Surprise M'Ending
by LJ Summers
Summary: The long-awaited story about how Jacob Black handled the imprinting from The Hardest Part and how he has a happy ending of his own. Jake meets his imprint and has to struggle with liking her, loving her and handling the mating imperative. Jacob/OC AU
1. Chapter 1: Old Life, New Lives

A/N: Welcome to the long-awaited Happy Ending for Jacob Black in the Imprinting: The Mating Imperative AU that was started in my story, THE HARDEST PART.

Welcome to all the usual suspects! It's good to see you back. Welcome to the newcomers! Do consider reading THE HARDEST PART and THE IMPERATIVE if you haven't yet done so, to give you an idea of where we came from to get here.

Now, this is enough of an A/N. Let me turn the page over to Jacob Black. Poor guy.

Thanks for reading!

**_This is a work of derivative fiction. All things TWILIGHT are the intellectual property of Stephenie Meyer and/or her assignees. I write merely to entertain myself and others and receive no compensation._**

* * *

**CHAPTER ONE**

_**Part One: Old Life, New Lives**_

Around me was that edged, phony pine scent of hospital cleaners everywhere. There were no Cullens at Forks General anymore, so that's where Embry took Bella on this most important of days. The false fluorescent lighting hurt my sensitive eyes as much as the lingering odors of illness and old blood assaulted my nose.

"Isabella? Sweetheart? You okay?" Embry was hovering as Bella was eased into the wheelchair. A nurse with bleached blond hair looked on tolerantly. Embry had _First Time Dad_ written all over his face. Worry was etching lines into his forehead earlier than I ever thought _that_ would happen. We weren't supposed to age while we were phasing!

Bella, once the girl I had dreamed of a stupid fairy tale ending with but who was now married to my best friend, rolled her eyes. Big brown eyes, they were bloodshot and had purple circles under them. Her skin was so pale – almost vampire-like – but when Embry whispered something just behind one of her ears, a blush flooded her cheeks and I had to look away.

It wasn't her fault. She hadn't had a choice, really. Well maybe, but only technically. Bella Swan – now Isabella Call – could have made no choice other than this one, given who she was.

As Embry wheeled her to a labor room and the rest of us guys in the pack lingered in the main waiting room for a while – Embry's kids would be the first of the new generation born of a werewolf and his imprint, so this was a huge deal – I leaned against a pale yellow wall and remembered how we got here.

I remembered the day Embry imprinted on Bella. Fury had ripped through me. Fury braided with shock and sorrow and jealousy. Only Sam's hard command had kept me from tearing into Embry, though he was my best friend. And later, it had to be me – me! – who helped him keep his head by finding Bella when he needed her for his own sanity. Jumping into her room, surrounded by her warmth and _that scent...! _Bella smelled sweeter than any girl _ever_. And I had to carry her to _him_. To Embry. To the guy that imprinted on her and ruined my chance at being happy.

I remembered cringing inwardly when I saw in Embry's mind his plans for his and Bella's big_ Immersion Weekend._ That's what they called it. It could have been called _Finally! _but none of us said so. Two nights and a day in the middle of it dedicated to sex. Not exactly a honeymoon, but a retreat to work on that Great Quileute Mating Project. That's what it was, never mind what words they put on it. I followed them to keep them safe, that weekend. I kept away one hungry vagrant, one lost middle-aged couple on a nature hike, and one assault-minded monster – human, but more of a monster than anyone I knew personally, aside from the Cullens – who had seen the smoke from Embry and Bella's fireplace and came to investigate. I heard him talking to himself about maybe _tapping a_ _nice piece of ass..._

He'll never being doing _that_ again.

I had patrolled outside the cabin to keep Bella safe. Embry wasn't a virgin, but I knew Bella was and I was scared for her. We wolves weren't exactly small guys. Bella was tiny. Also, I wanted to make damned sure that there was no "Emily moment." If something strange or unexpected happened and Embry phased – well, it would devastate him (and all of us) if he hurt Bella.

At least, that's what I told myself. I really did try to stay a decent distance away. I patrolled mostly in my wolf skin to give me the added benefits of my heightened senses so I could be farther from the cabin. I didn't count on still being able to _hear_ her... My senses had been attuned to Bella Swan even before I phased the first time. And I had run patrol around her house for months, too. I knew her heartbeat, knew her sleeping sounds, I knew her scent when she was afraid.

And, thanks to Embry, I knew a lot of other things I would have given a hind quarter to have experienced with my own eyes and body and not through his mind! Dammit.

Then, my heart broke for real. I thought it had been pretty much broken already, but I didn't know how much I hadn't felt yet until a day in late October...

_I'm going to be a dad! Bella's gonna marry me! _

I would have given an ear to have been in my human form when Embry phased and, with an ecstatic howl, shared the news with all of us. From the way Bella's eyes were glowing when she told him she was pregnant to his impromptu marriage proposal in the middle of the night, we saw it all.

Of course, the happy couple was brought before the Council and congratulated and Bella was introduced to everyone she didn't already know. She was carrying the first of the next generation of potential werewolves...

And _this_ generation knew how it tore me up, too. I tried, though. I really did.

I was really happy for Embry. He was maybe a little young to be a father, but I knew with everything I had that he would _be_ a father. A good one. Who knew exactly who his dad was? (The possibility that _his_ father could be _my dad_ was around thirty-three percent, but we never, _ever_ talked about it.) No secrets in the pack. But I could bury my feelings and I did. Buried them as I drove them to the airport for a quick Las Vegas wedding. I buried them as we renovated the old Pullotka place granted to Embry and Bella from the tribe. A house and a little bit of land. Embry Call was still in high school, but he was already married and bringing his wife to live with him. And, in fine Quileute tradition, all of his friends were helping him build a home in which she could live and bear his children...

I was really happy for Bella, too. More than any of the other wolf girls, she knew what she was getting into, for all that she was a "pale face," as I'd joked to her about one day. I was happy for her because she was human. That leech she'd been in love with – the one who had abandoned her – didn't get the chance to kill her and make her a blood-drinking rock. Instead, she had a heartbeat – I treasured that, knowing it could have been stolen from her – and a husband and her body grew round and beautiful...

With Embry's children.

Jealous? Me? _Damn straight. _

A hard hand clapped on my shoulder. "Jake? Maybe you should take off. Go on a vacation or something."

It was Quil. Hell, even he had imprinted. Claire was only three years old now, but he was a happy guy. He didn't have his heart ripped out of his chest on a regular basis. "A vacation, Quil? To where?"

"Someplace with girls, maybe?" His smile was wry. "Couldn't hurt, huh?"

"I've seen every girl on the Rez," I murmured, balling my fists briefly. "I know every girl in Forks."

"You know the teenagers," Quil allowed, rubbing at his jaw a little and smiling.

I snorted. "I'm not even going there." His unspoken suggestion that I could imprint on a kid made me want to cringe.

"Then you should go somewhere else, Jake. At least for a couple of weeks. Get away from all this," he went on, rolling his hand in the vague direction of the maternity ward.

I nodded. He was right; not that it'd help, but a break would be nice. "Sure, sure. Let's just make sure the wolf cubs make it out safe and sound, huh?" _And let's make sure Bella doesn't get hurt in the process..._ She was so tiny! And Embry...well...he wasn't! And they were having twins!

Time clicked on. My brothers and I lingered in the waiting area, alternately pacing and muttering and trying to crack jokes. Sam and Emily arrived and it was kind of funny to see how we gravitated to them. They had been together longer than any other imprinted pair, but they hadn't yet had children. We knew it was only a matter of time. Sam had told us while we were all phased that he worried about being a dad while he was phasing. He almost went so far as to say that when and if Emily got pregnant, he would step down as Alpha, train up a new one, and stop phasing altogether. Then he and Emily would age together.

It was a great dream. But I knew exactly whom he was looking at to replace him and I didn't want it.

The Alpha approached me as I stood stiffly near the coffee machine. It smelled like used coffee grounds and made me want to throw up. Or maybe it was just waiting to see the twins.

"Jacob."

"Sam."

"Quil said you'd agreed to take a break?"

"School's out in a couple of weeks; I could go then. How long will you give me?" I asked, not looking him in the eye. It hurt. Was I being told by my friend to give my heart a rest or being told I wasn't safe around the babies _or_ being told to stay the hell away from my pack-brother's wife?

Sam leaned carefully against the snack machine. A bag of peanuts fell down without aid. Sam and I exchanged looks and flipped a nickel for it. I won. Sam grinned and shook his head and resumed our discussion. "Couple of weeks. Your sister's in Hawai'i, right? You could maybe go surfing? Or hiking?"

"Just away. I hear you, Sam. Fine. I'll go. But," I snapped, practically growling, "don't you or anyone else think I'm going to find my soul mate while I'm gone, okay?"

Sam's voice dipped low into a tub called Compassion as he put his hand on my shoulder. "Jake. We only want you to be happy. All of us. Even _her_." His eyes were direct. "I don't know if you'd be able to imprint, to tell you the truth. It's not mandatory. You might be a stronger wolf if you just find a girl to love. Someday."

I snorted, but my eyes smarted. I had a girl I loved. It was only that she was in love with someone else...

"Family of Embry and Isabella Call?" The bleached-blond nurse called softly into the waiting room, over the random soap opera music on the television. All of us from the pack turned as if we had one mind, even without phasing.

"That'd be us," I said after a moment. "Is – are they okay?"

Her eyes grew wide to see half a dozen of us – all tall, bronzed, short of hair and well-muscled – approaching her in a semi-circle. "Yeah. She went into labor, as you know, right? It was really fast."

"So how are the kids?" Sam asked, his voice even as always.

"Both of 'em are fine. Son and daughter. It'll be a while before you can see them, but mom and dad are doing great, too."

We all grinned and slapped one another on the back and laughed in relief. When Bella had gone into labor weeks early, we were all a little afraid. It was almost a rush to find out that everyone was all right.

"Good, good," I murmured, thinking of Embry's joy and Bella's relief.

In due time, we all got to see the twins through the observation window of the nursery. Quil was practically bouncing in his eagerness to be introduced to the kids; no one knew why. Maybe it was because he was imprinted on a preschooler?

"What're their names?" he demanded of Embry as soon as our brother pulled himself from Bella's side. He and Bella had promised each other not to name their children until _after_ they were born.

Embry's eyes danced with warmth and a new maturity that made me envious. "Hennah was born first. Then, Hemeh," he told us, knowing we'd all be stumped.

"I'll bite," I huffed when no one else did; they all just stood there looking stupidly at the first pack papa. "What's with those names? We'd love 'em if you named them Jack and Jill, but ... Hennah and Hemeh? What?"

It was Sam who got it and he started to chuckle. "What, couldn't find a good Quileute name, Embry?"

"Mom's Makah, and the names are from the northern tribes, anyway." He rolled his eyes. "_You_ try converting Quileute to English, O Mighty Alpha." His skin heated and I could feel the tension in his body, drawing him back to Bella. "Hennah sounds like the word for a singer. Closest I could get, anyway." His eyes took on an almost worshipful cast. "Her first cry, I'm telling you, was like a song. So we named her singer. Hennah. And my son –" He paused and none of us were surprised to see the gleam of tears. He took a quick breath and wiped at his face. "My son is already eating like a wolf. So we named him Hemeh. Probably wind up calling him Hemi."

"Like the engine?" Quil asked, laughing softly.

"I like it!" Paul said, grinning broadly.

Emily curled herself around Sam. "Very traditional of you, Embry. When do we get to meet Hennah and Hemeh?"

! O ! O !

_You know how he is about being traditional. Comes from not knowing who his dad is and his mom freaking out about Bella and getting pregnant so young. He's just responding to all that, _Sam was thinking while we ran patrol the night after the twins were born.

I puffed out a breath into the misty summer air. _I know. But those are some out-there names. You're not going to get all traditional just because Joshua Uley left, are you? _

Sam's mind flared with a brief flurry of memories, edged with betrayal and pain. _No. But I do understand Embry. And I'm really glad Bella didn't make him name the kids like the town babies,_ he went on, trying to adjust his own mood.

_Me too!_

_Do you have plans for your vacation? _the Alpha asked next.

_California, yeah. Along the Big Sur. Great forests and beaches. _

_Sounds like here._

_Yeah...but it won't be. And I won't have to listen to you! _I chuffed a laugh.

Our run was silent after that. No vampires. No intruders. Only a couple of kids smoking some serious weed. We scared 'em a little.

I saw the kids a couple of weeks later, at the high school graduation, because they were in Embry's class. And, as we had heard in my brother's thoughts from when Bella told him they were going to have a baby, Embry did indeed have a child in his arms at graduation.

So did she. And the joy that emanated from both of them was almost too perfect for me to resent. Almost.

"Go on," Quil whispered as I stood back a ways from Embry and Bella. "Tell 'em good bye and get your furry ass to California. Find yourself a surfer girl and _relax_ for a week, okay? Lucky you not to be imprinted, after all, huh? If I went, I'd be miserable."

I snorted but did as he advised. "Hey, Embry. Bella," I called, finding a smile and shoving it on my face. "Congrats, bro. And Bells," I went on, looking down into her glowing brown eyes, "the kids are beautiful,"_ just like you_, "and I'm real happy for you. For you both."

"Thanks Jake," she murmured, her smile faltering. Was I so damned transparent? Well, to her. Yeah. Dammit. She inhaled and then looked down to nuzzle her daughter, little Hennah. "I heard you're going on vacation?"

"Yep. Find some California sun and all that."

She chuckled. "Well you be safe, okay? Come back to us. Want to hold Hennah?"

I grinned and tucked the baby girl into my arms. She peered up at me through dark, serious eyes under a thatch of curly brown hair. "Hello, baby." Her little fist waved at me and my heart melted. "You watch out for your folks for me while I'm gone, okay? You're the firstborn and that's your job."

I said my goodbyes to Embry, too, making sure to give little Hemi a light noogie before I left. They were great babies, but even so...

I was sure as hell glad I didn't imprint on Hennah.

* * *

**If you haven't already, please check out the companion story to this, called NEVER SAW THAT COMING. It's the story of Leah's imprint experience and runs on a concurrent timeline. It is, though, rated M for a reason! **


	2. Chapter 2: Girls Here and There

**A/N: ** Thanks for the comments and adds on this story! I hope you're enjoying it! As I mentioned in the first chapter, if you haven't read **The Hardest Part** yet, do it first and then rejoin us here.

Thanks for reading! ~LJ

* * *

_**California Girls**_

I pulled in at the bookstore. Had to have something to do on the beach and, yeah, books reminded me of Bella. The store was small, with a façade of rough logs that _looked_ real, but I knew couldn't be. The smell was wrong. They were on top of a foundation of something else. The roof was low and sloped and I had to duck to get in the door.

Of course at my height, that was normal.

Inside, I was straightening up when I heard a girl gasp and a book fall with a thud to the indoor-outdoor carpeting. It was green, in a kitschy move to look like grass in a forest grove. The store – called The Book Grove – was just that kind of place, apparently. I knelt to pick up the girl's book while she was still kind of staring at me.

Staring at me in a way that made me feel a little shy. A little embarrassed. And – for some stupid reason – I wished she'd seen me on the rez. You know, in my natural habitat. "Here you go," I said, making sure to keep my voice kind of soft. Maybe that look in her eye was fear, after all.

Nope. She blushed and I felt my own face heat up a little as I studied her features. Thick dark hair that fell to her waist. Big brown eyes that reminded me of someone else's but not enough to be confusing (Maybe I just had a thing for brown-eyed girls?), she wasn't very tall, and her lips were parted as she accepted the copy of _Metamorphosis_ by Franz Kafka. Whoa. Heavy reading. Dressed in a dark green sweater, jeans and boots, she looked like part of the forest herself.

"Th- Thanks," she whispered, turning bright pink again.

I had to grin. "Not a problem." I nodded at the book. "Is it good?"

"Yeah. It's my favorite. Um, were you looking for something? I work here. My name's Autumn." As she turned, I saw a lanyard with her name on it swing out from over her other shoulder.

"That's a pretty name. Thanks. Um, not sure what I'm looking for just now." I felt stupid, all at once. What was I doing here, anyway? Sure she was cute and this was a bookstore, but it wasn't like I imprinted on her and I sure as hell didn't want to mess up anyone...

The concerned faces of Quil and Sam and even Bella flashed across my memory while I looked over the bookstore. What the hell, right? I was on vacation. "So, you work here, right? What do you recommend?" Yeah, I was putting her on the spot, but it wasn't like she knew me or even that I'd ever see her again.

Besides, I liked making girls blush. I'd blame Bella for that.

Sure enough, Autumn's cheeks reddened again and she ducked her head before straightening her shoulders and smiling into my eyes. "Well, I really couldn't say, sir. You look like the outdoors type to me. Do you like Jack Kerouac?"

The name rang a bell from some English class back in school so I nodded. This girl read Kafka, another one of those authors that intimidated the hell out of me. "Sure, sure. Point him out and I'll –"

With a sprightly grin, she tilted her head and walked in front of me. "Follow me, sir."

I was not going to turn down the invitation to look, anyway. Keeping my smirk entirely to myself – and being extremely relieved that I was not phasing and so the guys were not going to have to see me making an ass out of myself, I checked out _her_ ass and was definitely not disappointed.

"Well, sir," she said, tossing me a glance over her shoulder, "here you go."

"It's Jake," I muttered, scanning the wood-veneered shelf and thinking that I should maybe have looked for a local comic book store or something up here instead.

"Jake?"

"Yeah, my name, you know?"

Her smile never left her face, but it did warm her eyes. "Cool. Jake, then. Here's Kerouac and some other authors you might like. Jack Kirby's got some good stuff. If you have any questions, I'll be at the register."

So, yeah, one thing lead to another and before I left The Book Grove, I had a date with one really cute girl named Autumn.

"And this is my friend, Leslie," Autumn told me the next evening, tugging out a blonde with a dimpled smile. "She really wanted to meet you."

Surprise sent sparks all through me, but not because I imprinted. Hell, no. Just because I apparently had a date with not one but two really cute girls. At the same time. And both the girls had a beckoning scent to them that I totally recognized. Sometimes, being a werewolf came in handy. Two girls...? One night...?

"Hi, Leslie," I managed. "Any friend of Autumn's..."

The girls laughed and I walked them both out to my rental car, a disbelieving grin on my face as they gave me directions to the local movie theater.

**

* * *

**

_**Domestic Surprises**_

I was smiling as the plane landed at Sea Tac, because, hell, my California memories were worth it. Sitting in the front row of the plane, I could stretch my legs out and the muscle-memories prompted vacation-memories which made me smile more.

"Glad to be home, sir?" The voice of the male flight attendant shook me from my reverie.

I straightened up in the seat. "Uh, yeah. But it was a great vacation," I told him with a grin. I was already trying to decide which memories I could keep out there for the guys. I managed to forget Bella for hours at a time, which was really progress. It really was. The pack would be relieved, anyway. "You've heard about those California girls, right?"

The flight attendant winked at me. "Oh, yeah."

As soon as we were allowed, I popped open the overhead bin and grabbed my backpack. This was going to be the tricky part – getting out of civilization and back to the woods so I could strap my pack around my stomach before phasing. I had worked on it before I left for California, but it was a little awkward standing naked with a huge strap in one hand to make sure it didn't fall to the ground and get tangled in my paws.

It took about an hour to get to where I wanted to be, and then I was in my wolfskin and running for home. The scents of these trees were familiar to me. Sitka and spruce instead of redwood. The Pacific Ocean's own salts wafted to my sensitive nose, too, reminding me that I was no longer in California, spending time with Autumn and Leslie.

_Hey! I saw that! _

_Embry! Hey!_

_Welcome home, brother! _

A sense of warmth and brotherhood came from him across the miles and if I could have grinned with the wolf's muzzle, I would have. Instead, I chuffed and laughed in my mind. _Good to be home, Em. How're Bella and the kids? _That sounded so sitcom-ish. Damn.

Surprise flashed to me when he filled me in. _Bella's doing great. I'll let her know you're home. Kids are great. Come on over when you check in with Billy._

_Who's that?_ I asked him when a strange face flashed in his thoughts. It was a girl who had thick black hair, big brown eyes – my apparent weakness – and tanned skin. High cheekbones and a narrow nose combined with lips the color of the Merlot I had seen in a store at the airport in California. _She's beautiful,_ I thought without filtering my mind.

Embry's thoughts were joined by Sam's as the Alpha phased. I could see the house he and Emily lived in, with the new room addition they were building on the back. _It's complicated_, Sam warned me.

His and Embry's thoughts scrambled together uncomfortably. A man who looked a little like Sam – Joshua Uley, I guessed, though I hadn't met him myself. Embry's mom. The flash of a picture in a wallet of a woman with oddly familiar eyes.

_Now hang on_, Sam directed Embry as I ran more quickly in my hurry to reach La Push. _We don't want him freaking out._

_Him freaking out? Hell, Sam, _I'm_ still trying to get used to it._

_Used to what? _I demanded, growling as my paws tore up the pine needles of the forest floor. _Who is that girl? _

_You know how Mom never told me who my dad was?_ Embry reminded me. Laura Call's face, in sorrowful determination, crossed his mind.

Sam's memories joined his. _Turns out she knew my father. Knew him really well, the bastard. _

Pain sliced through me as I shared their memories. Pain at Sam's abandonment by his father. Pain at Embry's finding out that same man was his biological father.

And a distress was added to both to of their minds. _Jake, dude, that girl is our sister, _Embry informed me as I reached the coastal forest track. The trees flew by me as I ran, but I barely noticed. I could only seem to feel the pain of betrayal and unwelcome discovery in the minds of my friends and pack brothers.

_What's she doing here?_ I asked Embry as the scents of La Push reached my nose. _Where is she?_

_I think she should tell her own story._ Sam's mental state was firm in his decision. _Go home, Jake, and then you can go see Embry and Bella and the kids. Cassandra'll be at my house, but I'll bring her by._

_Cassandra?_

_Cassandra Uley, my sister._

_My sister, too_! Embry was practically snarling as I skirted the village to get to the closest point to the house I lived in with my dad. _Jacob, this is really messed up. _

_You sure don't need more stress,_ I thought. _Hey, I gotta phase human. I'll be by to see you as soon as I can, okay? _

_Sure. I'll tell Bella. And hey, before you go –_

_What?_ I wondered, almost at the treeline and ready to phase human.

_Leah. _

And I saw a flurry of images. I didn't need to even hear Embry's words to know what had happened. The only female in the pack had imprinted on Chief Swan and he didn't know it yet!

Well, hell. _ Does Bella know?_

_No We've told Leah we'll keep the secret until she tells Charlie._

_All right. I can do that. But, damn._

_Yeah. You thought she was bad before, imagine her head, now!_

_I don't even wanna go there, _I communicated to him, the fur along my spine shivering with my imagination.

_Later, Jake._

_Later._

I stopped at the treeline and phased to my human skin, hearing my backpack fall to the dirt. My mind racing over the revelations about Leah and Charlie, Laura Call and Joshua Uley, not to mention the sudden appearance of Embry and Sam's apparent half-sister, I was walking in something of a daze as I reached my house. I didn't realize I hadn't even pulled on a pair of pants until Rachel opened the front door.

"Jake!" Her eyes fell to my groin and I rolled my eyes. "Get dressed, idiot," she said. "Dad's at Sue's place."

"I was talking with Sam and Embry on my way over," I told my sister. She was Paul's imprint so she knew all about this werewolf stuff. It was a relief. "I'm gonna go see him."

"You mean _Bella_," she taunted. Sisters were such a pain.

I shook my head. "No, I mean _Embry_," I told her, reaching my room and rummaging for some clothes in my closet. "I met a couple of girls in California," I called to Rachel to get her off my case. "Cute ones. Had some good times."

"Oh yeah?" Her voice curled with interest as I heard her press against my bedroom door. "How good?"

The memories that had had me smiling so broadly on the flight back to Washington returned and I grinned again as I pulled the blue polo shirt over my head. "Really good. Trust me."

"I am so glad I'm not a wolf like Leah," Rachel said, laughing. "I really don't want details."

"Good, because I'm not telling you." _And I'm not telling you about Leah's imprint, either._ I wondered how Rachel would take having a male imprint in the group?

I emerged from my room after I got my jeans on and shoes in my hand. Rachel smiled up at me. "I can ask Paul... If it'd make me happy to know, he'll tell me."

With a barked laugh, I moved past her to get to the bathroom. Yes, I was going to see Embry's family. Yes, I had had a good time with Autumn and Leslie. But still...

Meeting my reflection in the mirror, I tried to banish the wistfulness from my expression. _She's married, you ass_, I reminded myself as I brushed my teeth. _She loves Embry. This is stupid. You're an idiot, just like Rachel said._

Idiot or not, I headed to Embry's at a light jog, glad that I was not phased wolf and so could keep some of my thoughts to myself. Thoughts of Autumn and Leslie and a blanket on the sand under the stars... _Yes, think of them instead of Isabella Call. _Instead of memories of a very pregnant Bella, round with Embry's son and daughter. Instead of distant memories from a time when I was blissfully ignorant of werewolves and there was just me and Bella, walking on the shore and holding hands.

I was calling myself all kinds of names as I reached the house I had helped renovate for Bella and Embry. I tried, though, to find that just-friends smile for Bella when she opened the door to my knock. "Hey, Bells," I said, inhaling the fresh floral scent of her, mingled with the scents of the babies and – Oh, hell. Breast milk? Yes.

Blowing out a breath, I held on to my smile by the barest nerve ending as she adjusted her hold on the baby over her shoulder. "Jake! Welcome home! Embry told me you'd be by."

"Yep. Need a hand?" I asked, offering to take whichever of the twins she was holding.

"Nope. I just need, to, um, get back to feeding her." So it was Hennah. "Hemi's already been fed."

I heard a car approach and turned, expecting to see Embry, maybe, reaching the graveled drive. "Where's Em?"

"He's at Dowling's. He had only run home for lunch when he heard you." Hennah started fussing and squirming a little and Bella moved her daughter into a cradle-hold.

I looked away. "Must be Sam on his way, then."

Bella's brow creased into a frown as she settled into the rocking chair near a small side table. The rocker looked all padded and had bows on the padding with a foot stool and everything. "Would you be willing to let them in, Jake? I need to finish getting her fed, okay? Sorry," she whispered, her blush flooding her cheeks as she tugged a blanket from a basket next to the chair. She adjusted herself and Hennah so that her baby was able to feed without giving anyone a view of Bella's breast while she did so.

I was blushing myself and willed the color to recede before Sam parked his car. "What do you mean by _them_, Bells?" I asked, watching out the window in the living room. There were two people in the car.

"My new sister-in-law," Bella said, her voice matter of fact over the soft nuzzling sounds her daughter made. I tried not to hear and tried even harder not to imagine. _Stupid jerk_, I told myself. _Fantasizing about a breastfeeding woman. You're an idiot._

Sam's old sedan had a well-maintained engine, so it purred smoothly into the drive. The Alpha got out from behind the wheel and nodded at his passenger. The other door opened and I saw the same girl from Sam's and Embry's thoughts slide from the seat and out into the hazy sunshine of the late summer afternoon. Her thick hair gleamed as it swept over her shoulders. Her movements were graceful as she swept her hair back and shut the door.

I opened the front door to welcome them. "Sam."

"Jake! Good to see you! Welcome home!" His sister, then, didn't know about us. Okay. I kept that in mind. "What're you doing at _Embry's_?" His emphasis was slight on my friend's name.

"Came to see the kids. It's been a while."

Sam smiled and took his sister by the arm. I reminded myself that I wasn't supposed to know who she was. "Jake, I'd like to introduce you to my sister, Cassandra Uley."

I pushed the surprise into high gear and looked her in the eye. "Hello," I started to say.

But I barely made it. Her deep brown eyes met mine and my whole world sort of fell away from me. I felt weightless, light-headed, but still attached by a huge steel cable to this incredibly beautiful woman standing here in front of me.

What the hell? I was _imprinting_ on Sam and Embry's _sister_!

**

* * *

**

**A/N: See how I slid Leah's imprinting in here? She will get her own story, but I had to put it in context, so here it is.**

**Autumn and Leslie are real people, used by permission. I like a good cameo. The Book Grove is a figment of my imagination, as far as I am aware.**

**Excerpt from Chapter 3:**

That sent the hair on the back of my neck to rising, because even if Cassandra was my imprint, Bells was one of my best friends and was married to another of my best friends.

Maybe I wasn't imprinted?

Maybe it was just hold-over from Bella? Long dark hair, brown eyes, quiet demeanor... Just like Bella. Just like Autumn, back in the Big Sur.


	3. Chapter 3: Intro to the Supermodel

_A/N: Please remember that I really like Jacob Black and I want him to be happy. I just don't intend to make it easy… Where's the fun in that? _

_Thanks for reading! ~LJ_

_**Part Four: Introduction**_

"Jake? Sam? Come on in!" Bella's voice came through the open door to where the three of us were standing like statues in front of the house. "Is Cassi with you?"

Sam was just staring at me, his eyes wide with disbelief. "Yeah, Bells. We'll be right in. Uh, yeah. C'mon, Cassi. Jake, let's not keep Bella waiting, okay?" His hand enveloped Cassi's elbow and I felt myself bristling before I enforced a heavy calm on myself and followed them indoors. _Sam's her brother. Her brother. Idiot._

Bella's scent was still there, still sweet and intermingled with the scents of the twins and their lunch, but that had no appeal for me now. It was almost a relief. That was weird. Beyond strange.

But so welcome. Suddenly. So welcome.

Hemi was waking up and Hennah was on Bella's shoulder, making burping sounds. I wanted to hug Bella all of a sudden. To embrace her as my friend, finally, which was all she had ever wanted from me. She had always been perceptive, so when she pulled away just a little and caught my eyes with her own studious gaze, I knew she had picked up on the new – what, vibe? – and she lifted one brow at me.

"Everything all right, Jake?"

"I'll tell you later, 'k, Bells?"

"Sure, sure," she muttered, patting the baby and turning back to Sam and Cassandra.

Cassandra was my imprint? Yes, I knew how it "felt" from having experienced the imprinting process so many times through the minds of my brothers. The sense of singular connection, the focus on her, the way her scent was markedly enhanced to my nose, even. Well, damn. Me. Imprinting.

Sam's eyes narrowed and he deliberately focused his sister's attention to Bella while I got my bearings around me. Bella invited Cassi to have a seat, Sam sat next to her, and I leaned against a wall, next to a floor lamp. I took advantage of Bella and Sam introducing Cassandra to the babies to study her.

Something was off. She was angry. She sat stiffly straight-backed next to Sam and barely even glanced at him. Her body was slightly angled away from him and more in my direction. Was that an unconscious acknowledgment on her part of this brand-new connection? I wanted to hope so, but something told me that was completely wrong. Cassandra also seemed to refuse to meet Bella's eyes, treating her as if she were a child instead of a grown woman, wife and mother.

That sent the hair on the back of my neck to rising, because even if Cassandra was my imprint, Bells was one of my best friends and was married to another of my best friends.

Maybe I wasn't imprinted?

Maybe it was just hold-over from Bella? Long dark hair, brown eyes, quiet demeanor... Just like Bella. Just like Autumn, back in the Big Sur.

Cassandra Uley was no Bella Swan. Nor was she an Autumn. Maybe I wasn't –

"So, you're Jacob Black?"

Her voice reached deep inside of me and seemed to hit low in my gut. It was a rich voice, cultured as if she spoke professionally, maybe? As if she had trained her voice to such a pitch. It intimidated me.

Had the other guys been intimidated by their imprints when they had met them?

Maybe I wasn't...?

"Yeah. Uh. Yes, I am. So, you're Sam and Embry's sister, huh? It's good to know they've got family around."

Sam stiffened, catching my attention with a flick of his fingers. "Jake..."

Cassandra stood sharply and glared at me, ignoring Sam entirely. "So can you tell me why his sons ignored him for the past eighteen years or so? It would have been nice to have known I even had brothers, _when my parents died_," she snapped, her hands splayed with tension at her sides, so stiffly that her fingers were actually curving backward.

I swore under my breath, quietly enough that only Sam would have heard me. I took an involuntary step toward her, wanting to touch her, inhale her fragrance, but also wanting to yell at her for being like she was about Sam and Embry. "Cassandra," I began.

She stopped me by throwing up one of her stiffened hands. "Cassi. I'm Cassi Uley." She said the name as if it were supposed to mean something to me, and for a moment I thought – stupidly – that it had to do with our connection. I felt my lips tug upward in a smile and she smirked at me. "Didn't know who I was at first?"

"Wait. Cassi Uley?" Bella murmured as bounced one of the babies – I couldn't see which one it was, since she had a blanket about its whole body – on her lap. It burped and then I recognized the sound scent. It was Hennah. Bella blushed a little but studied Cassi closely. "I know someone who knows your name," she began slowly. "Weird."

Cassi bristled. There was a lot of that going around, at the moment. "Weird? I beg your pardon?" She didn't even turn to face Bella, which made me mad again, but in a muted way. No one should disrespect Bella like that but – but I couldn't find a more righteous anger inside myself.

"Cassi, c'mon," Sam admonished, standing as well.

Cassi sent him a sharp look over her shoulder and then directed her full attention to me. "So? You know me?"

"Should I?" I shot back. She might be my imprint, but I really didn't want to handle this arrogant attitude from anyone except the Alpha. "Well, you act just like Sam," I told her, "but I don't think that's why you sound familiar to Bella."

"Alice told me about her," Bella inserted, still bouncing little Hennah on her lap with tiny movements of her feet. "About you, I mean." I saw Bella's eyes flash with temper for a moment before she shot both Sam and myself a quick glance and calmed herself. "Alice Cullen is a friend of mine who's really into fashion. She saw you in a show or something in New York?"

"Fashion Week," Cassi said, her demeanor relaxing slightly as she turned to Bells.

Sam coughed loudly into his fist. "She's a model, Jake."

At the blunt identification, Cassi's posture changed. She suddenly looked every inch a model. She was tall, I was guessing nearly six feet, and she wore a sundress with a pair of sandals that strapped up a pair of incredible looking calves. Slightly hip-shot, she stood as if prepared to be admired.

Hell, I couldn't help myself. Of course I admired her. My mouth was dry with my appreciation of her. Lean and curvy in all the right places, she wasn't too skinny, like I thought all models were. Maybe she was a new kind? I didn't know. I really didn't care. Not just then.

"A model." She nodded. "We're a long way from New York, Cassi Uley."

Her defensive, assertive stance softened. "I know. So will you answer my question, now? Why haven't my brothers been in touch with their own father?"

I frowned and took another step toward her. I couldn't help myself. Her almond-shaped eyes were liquid with a barely-concealed pain that I could almost taste. "Honest, Cassi, he kind of abandoned Sam and his mom a long time ago. And Embry, well. Embry didn't even know who his dad was, much less that he had a famous sister."

"It's a lie! Daddy would never abandon any child of his! He wouldn't! No!"

Before any of us could inhale, Cassandra Uley had spun on her stylish heel and slammed out of the Call house.

**~*~**

_**Part Five: Chasing the Supermodel**_

"What the hell is _wrong_ with her?" Bella snapped as the loud slapping of the aluminum screen woke Hennah, who had just dozed off. Fury narrowed her eyes as she carefully cradled the crying baby and marched off to the babies' room. "I'd really rather not deal with that again," she called back as she disappeared from my view.

Sam and I exchanged bewildered looks. "You imprinted on _her_?" Sam demanded first. "My _sister_? Hell, Jake. _Embry's_ sister? What a mess."

"You better go catch her before she gets lost or something," I advised, still trying to wrap my mind around this whole imprinting thing. "And about the imprint..." I stood there, a stupid smile taking over my face without my say-so. "She's incredible," I murmured, thinking for a moment about Cassi's spirited expressions, her beautiful face, and how much I wanted to take her in my arms and make her forget all about –

"Yeah, well, she's still my sister, Jake. And she's mad as hell at me, so why don't you go get her, huh? Talk to her about us, maybe?" I did a double-take and stared. "What?" he wondered, sounding amused and defensive.

"You want me to go and talk to her? Sam." I got all flustered even thinking about it. "She doesn't even know me."

"But she's going to, right?" He eyed me with a mix of emotions flowing under the surface. "You're going to have to tell her, Jake," he added more quietly. This time, I knew it was discomfort that caused the Alpha's mouth to tighten at the corners. "One way or the other."

Nerves tightened my whole body and I clenched my fists. I never had thought this would happen. Not really. "I always figured that it'd be easier," I ground out. "Sam, how do I do this?" The look I gave him was clear. I couldn't hide anything from him, anyway. He'd find out how I felt either now or the next time we phased... "I'm not even sure I like her," I confessed honestly. I wasn't. Her attitude, her disregard of Bella, her implied accusations of Sam and Embry – add 'em up and I wasn't her biggest fan.

But I was obsessed by her, even now. I felt a tugging in my gut. Lower, even. A tugging that was becoming more urgent by the minute. A wish to protect her and soothe away her anger and make her smile. I hadn't seen her smile. I _wanted_ to.

"You might not – been there, done that – but that doesn't matter, does it?" Sam asked, his voice edged in sadness. He was remembering when he imprinted on Emily. How hard it was to tell her. How she had initially rejected him and still – there'd been no choice. Those were memories he had shared with all of us at some point, so we understood how it felt. So we would know that he understood how it might be for us.

Dammit. Why did it have to be just what I needed to be reminded of, anyway? If I had to imprint, why couldn't it have been on someone else? Someone like Autumn, maybe?

I closed my eyes and listened hard. I could still hear her footsteps outside on the rough ground. "Nope. It doesn't even matter," I whispered, still with my eyes closed. "Will you tell Bella? I don't want her to get the wrong idea about this."

"About what?" Sam wondered, clearly confused as he moved to watch the hall where Bella had disappeared with the twins. "About you trying to clear things up with Cassi?"

"No, about me taking off when she had been upset," I shot back. "She's my best friend, Sam."

"And Cassi's your imprint," Sam reminded me. "Unless I completely misread that whole thing."

"You didn't, okay?" I said, too loudly.

"He didn't what?" Bella asked, peeking her head out into the hallway so that I could see her curious expression.

"Sorry, Bells," Sam and I said on the same breath. One of the babies – my bet was on Hemi – squalled just then. I winced, feeling guilty for some stupid reason.

But the guilt faded almost instantly, being overtaken by an urgent need to follow Cassandra. Cassi. She preferred Cassi. "Sam...?"

He made a short, impatient sound. "Fine. Go. I'll tell her. Go."

I was gone in the next beat of my heart, making sure to close the screen quietly behind me. Once outside Bella's house, I sniffed the air, catching the trace fragrance of Cassi Uley in my nose and on my tongue. Wow. Even so soft and a little faded, the scent hit me in a strange way, kind of spiraling through me and making my body tighten. My eyes snapped open and I set myself to tracking her.

Like a wolf.

"Damn, girl, you walk way too fast," I murmured to nobody as I jogged after the scent trail. It wound down the gravel drive and out to the road, heading toward the ocean. I don't know where Cassi Uley thought she was going, but it sure wasn't to Sam's place. I didn't bother smiling at the people I passed by on my way to find her. I just looked like any other guy out on a jog. On a summer afternoon. When most of my friends who had any sense were at the beach already, maybe trying to catch a wave or hang out with their friends.

Me, I was trying to find – "Cassi! Wait up!"

She was at a corner, looking up and down the street, her head swiveling, her long, shining hair swaying with each movement she made. My fingers itched to weave themselves in the heavy strands, to capture them, to wrap them around my arms and feel them against me –

No. I had a task. I had to try to explain things. Why me? I railed privately. Why not Sam?

"Jacob Black. You didn't bring him with you, did you?" Cassi didn't even turn to look at me. She just stood, tall and proud, but with a dejected tone in her question. "I don't want to talk to him just now."

I reached her, wanting to wrap my arms around her and pull her next to me, all of a sudden, remembering the tears and pain in her eyes, from before, and feeling it now as I came close enough to feel the heat from her body, though she was far cooler than I. It was like a veil that settled itself around me. I wanted to bury my nose in her hair and –

"No," I told myself. Of course, it was also an answer to her question, so that was convenient. "No. He's back at Embry and Bella's." When she didn't say anything to that, I wondered, "Want to talk about what happened?"

"What? About my half-brothers ignoring their father or what?" She whipped a glance to me that I could practically feel. Her eyes were narrowed, but sharp in their disdain of my brothers.

"Can we go someplace and talk for a minute?"

She eyed me up and down, her focus tight, but not dismissive. For some reason, that made me want to smile. "I guess you're not a rapist."

I frowned at her. "Don't even joke about that."

"I wasn't. I was trying to decide if I could disable you if you became – obnoxious."

I couldn't help the laugh that came from my chest. Cassi? Disable me? The idea was too funny not to laugh at, honestly. But then she looked extremely irritated and my laughter stopped as if a valve had been shut, somewhere inside myself. "Sorry," I muttered. "I'm just not used to having anyone think about trying to disable me. So," I went on, to obey the task Sam set for me. "Can we talk? We can go back to Bella's, if you want, or to Sam's?"

"Don't you have a house?"

Surprised, I sort of gaped at her. I felt like an idiot. "Yeah, but I'd rather not go there. It's kind of far."

"How'd you get here, then?"

"I ran...?" My answer sounded stupid as I said it. "How about we just make it to a place that isn't on a corner so we can sit down, okay? Tell me about what happened. How'd you come here?"

She tossed up her hands and then turned on those beautiful legs. "Fine. Sam sent you, I get that. Fine. Okay. I'll make this short and then you can tell my brother what an a–"

I put my arm behind her back to help direct her and her words halted abruptly. I was practically melting and felt hopelessly stupid. I remembered the guys sharing how it felt the first time they touched their imprints, but I was totally overwhelmed. I wanted to roll her next to me, nuzzle her, taste her skin...! I didn't. I tried to keep walking, her long legs keeping a pretty good pace with mine.

Neither of us said anything while I maneuvered us from the street through a pass between a couple of smaller houses and out to a stretch of thinly-wooded forest. Lots of light and a few downed logs. Hm. Where would she sit? Well, we'd figure something out.

"Sam's not an ass. I swear it. He's a cool guy," I said as a raven swooped right in front of us and startled her into jumping practically into my chest. I had to say something or I swear I'd kiss her. Right there. My heart was pounding to feel more of her against me. _Focus, Jake. You idiot. Focus! _"Uh. He would have tried to get in touch with you if he'd known about you. He didn't even know about Embry bein' his brother, honestly. How'd you know that?"

We reached the trees and I stopped, not wanting her to think I was dangerous in a way that she might think was dangerous. She looked around and, shrugging, decided to lean against a slender spruce, crossing her arms under her breasts.

I did my best to keep my focus on her face as she spoke, while I leaned against a tree about four feet away. Closest one there was.

"My mom died from breast cancer when I was fifteen," Cassi said, her eyes half-lidded as she stared at some invisible point in the dirt halfway between the two of us. "It was just me and dad. Josh Uley. He was the best dad in the world, Jacob Black. He loved my mom to pieces and they'd make out in the kitchen and hold hands when we all went someplace. He took me to cheerleading and bought me a great car when I turned sixteen. He took time off his job to come with me to a studio when I got a shot at being a model and he totally supported me when I wanted to graduate early and focus on my career. Dad was the best. He looks – _looked_ – a lot like Sam."

"I'm really sorry, Cassi. I am. My mom died when I was a kid. It was...just... ouch."

She met my eyes then, her own wet with her sorrow, and I wanted to move and comfort her, just to put my arms around her and hold her and let her cry on my stupid shirt. I didn't.

"Yeah. Ouch. So. He sat me down, one day about a week after Mom's funeral, and told me his life's story. About how he grew up a poor kid on this Reservation and how he was kind of an idiot when he was younger. How'd he'd got married real young and how hard it had been to be tied down. He told me he'd divorced his wife and son and moved away, to start over again away from the Rez." She shot me a quick look. "He always called it The Rez. I don't mean any disrespect. I mean, I try to make sure I'm not taking where you live casually or anything. I know it's like home to you guys."

"We all call it The Rez, too, Cassi," I said softly, so she wouldn't worry. "It's our home. You're Josh Uley's daughter, so it's your home too, if you need one."

Her features hardened and it hurt me to see. "Here? Home? I don't _think_ so. I have a shoot in Alaska next week. I do not need a home. I _have_ one."

I gasped out loud in shock. She'd be leaving. _In just a few days!_ The knowledge that she would be going far away from me hurt. A physical pain that sliced like – like a claw through my stomach. "But you can't," I whispered, taking an involuntary step forward.

"Oh yeah? Just watch me," she retorted, pushing away from the tree.

And then, because maybe the old spirits of my people really do exist or something, an amazing thing happened. Runway model Cassi Uley tripped on the root of the tree she was standing against and fell right into my arms.

**~*~**

**From Chapter Four:**

"Um, there's are certain bloodlines among our people, Cassi, that have different, ah, traditions. Conditions. Situations. Your bloodline is like mine, so we really kind of share them." That was actually really great, I thought as leaned slightly closer to her to get a better whiff of the scent of her hair as the breeze blew by us.

She tilted her head at the same time and I froze, my whole body aching, practically vibrating to close the gap between us and taste her... It was almost inevitable.


	4. Chapter 4: Disclosure and Derision

_A/N: I'm glad that Cassi is meeting with approval. Yes, she's a pistol. ;-) _

_Thanks for reading! ~LJ_

**~*~**

_**Part 6: Disclosure and Derision**_

Cinnamon and vanilla and some distinct, purely _feminine_ scent swirled around me, intoxicating me as I helped steady Cassi. She was beautiful and perfect and just a little bit clumsy, maybe.

"Jacob?"

"Jake. My friends call me Jake," I murmured, staring into her eyes. My mouth went dry and the blood was rushing through my body as I held her, unwilling to let her stand on her own.

"Jacob," she whispered. "Hey. You're hot."

I shook myself. "Yeah? Well you're not so bad yourself."

With an impatient sound she pushed a little away from me, though I kept a hand on her. "That's not what I meant. I meant you've got a fever."

_Here it comes_, I thought. "Um, no. But thanks for being concerned. I just have a naturally – _supernaturally_ – high body temperature." I slipped it in like that, thinking it would be easy to go from body temperature to why I had it to what I was...

But it wasn't easy. Stuff like this, I guessed, was never _easy_. When Embry imprinted on Bella, he took her to Emily instead of explaining it himself. I wasn't going to do that.

She slid from my arms and tested her feet, her facial expression working all the while. It was really quiet, in the air around us. Tense, expectant. Even the local wildlife was quiet. I took a quick scenting of the air, making sure nothing unnatural was in the area – it was an instinct. But no – there were only the scents of pine and ocean and earth, combined with the skirling trails of small animals and faint hints of people who had come through the area recently, leaving footprints behind them.

I could hear Cassi's heart beat faster and I braced myself for whatever she was gearing up to say.

"Supernatural? I noticed that Sam's skin was hot, too. You guys into something, maybe?" She frowned at me in a concern that bordered on judgment. I didn't blame her. "Is that what drove my dad away? Drugs?"

"Cassi!" I almost exploded with a sudden exasperation. "Stop it! Your father, Sam's father, _left_. It sounds like he turned into a hell of a man and I'm sure he was a wonderful dad to you, okay? I'm not knocking that." I didn't know where the words were coming from, exactly. All I knew was that I wanted to explain things and I needed for her to be happy. "You've done real well for yourself, and that reflects on him and your mother, right?" Her expression softened and I paused to take a quick, deep pull of air into my lungs. "But you've got to remember that we don't know your folks like you did, okay? So give us some space." I angled a brow at her. "So are you ready to sit down or do you want to head back to the house?"

She collapsed gracefully on the log behind my legs. I joined her, feeling the air currents she made with her hands as she straightened her skirt and fixed a strap on her sandal. Her fragrance sifted through the pine and earth aromas. "I'm ready," she said after the silence had lengthened, "to find out what you meant by _supernatural_."

"Beyond the norm, you know?" I countered, feeling my way into this. "Um, there's are certain bloodlines among our people, Cassi, that have different, ah, traditions. Conditions. Situations. Your bloodline is like mine, so we really kind of share them." That was actually really great, I thought as leaned slightly closer to her to get a better whiff of the scent of her hair as the breeze blew by us.

She tilted her head at the same time and I froze, my whole body aching, practically vibrating to close the gap between us and taste her... It was almost inevitable.

Almost. She jerked away, frowning a little, a wash of deep color painting her cheeks beautifully. I swallowed. She cleared her throat and said, "I don't run a fever."

I moved back too, not wanting to crowd her, before leaning forward resting my arms on my thighs. "Did your dad ever tell you stories about his people? _Our_ people?"

Her laugh was uncomfortable, but I thought it was sweet. "Oh my gosh, yes. I mean, when I was in fourth grade –" I saw her move out of the corner of my eye as she rose swiftly to her feet and turned gracefully, bringing her dress out like she was modeling it in New York. "You're going to think this is so stupid."

I smiled up at her and shook my head. "Highly doubtful. I've grown up with the stories."

With a slight hitch in her breath, she looked away, back the way we had come, standing perfectly still. "It was when I was in fourth grade. We were studying State History, like everyone does, you know? And me being part Native American – can you believe I had to show them, like, a pedigree when I wanted to talk about it? – Anyway, yeah. So, my teacher wanted to know if there were any legends from the Quileute Nation to share with the class. I could get extra credit if I shared them, right?"

"I only ever went to school on the Rez," I told her softly, caught up in watching her perfectly arched brows – like birds' wings – wrinkled adorably over her nose. She also had this captivating maneuver with her lips when she was perplexed or embarrassed. Bella would bite hers, but Cassi pursed them off to one side, like she was going to kiss – kiss someone. _The guys are totally gonna see this and think I am such a girl_. "I don't know what kids did in other schools."

Her angled glance was surprised. "Oh, right. So. Okay. I had to have a legend and tell it to the class and Dad told me about this thing with the Quileutes being descended from wolves and they turned into werewolves or something to fight these scary mythical creatures called The Cold Ones." She exaggerated her facial expressions into a big scary sort of face when she told me. I wasn't surprised. How could she be expected to know this was all true?

I grinned up at her. "Descended from wolves? Did he say anything else?"

Abruptly, she puffed out an impatient breath and sat down. Equally sudden came the sob from her throat. "Damn, it's so hard, Jacob. I mean, I can hear him telling me, but I'm afraid I'm already not remembering his voice right, you know?"

Instinct and yearning had me putting my arm around her shoulders and tugging her next to me. "I know. I remember."

"Right, yeah," she whispered with a hitch in the middle. I loved holding her like this. She felt perfect, the bare skin of her shoulder under my fingertips, her head touching my jaw, the slight sounds she made. I wanted to press my lips to her hair, to whisk her over to sit on my lap, to rock her and comfort her. I didn't do any of that. I just held her until she shifted uncomfortably under my arm. Slowly, reluctantly, I let her go.

Before I lost my nerve, I told her. "Those stories? Joshua Uley didn't know it, but they're true. Some of us do turn into werewolves when we have to. And there are Cold Ones. I've met 'em. I've even fought 'em." My heart was pounding with hope, with nerves, with fear that she'd laugh in my face and reject everything else I had to tell her. I all but bounced to my feet and moved about three feet away from her, keeping my focus on her the whole time.

Her face went from white to red, her perfect skin a little blotched from crying and now getting red from some kind of emotion that increased my anxiety. "I so didn't think you were this mean, Jacob Black. You and my brother both. You're just jerks. Asses. Both of you."

That hurt, but I persevered. "No. It's real and I can prove it." I could. She was my imprint; I didn't doubt it, not now.

She pushed herself up off the log and stood right in front of me. "Look, just because I show up uninvited and –"

I interrupted her with quick motion of my hand. "No. Seriously. I'm not messing with you, Cassi. Neither is Sam. You're his sister. You're one of us, whether you like it or not." Mine. She was mine, really, and it was sinking into me, deeper with every breath I took that was laced with her scent.

"I think you're crazy."

I shrugged. "I've heard worse, but I'm not. And that's not all." _What the hell? She already doesn't believe me. How much worse can it get? _

She shook her head and gave me a look filled with disbelief. "Yeah, so you become one of these mythical beasts when the moon is full, right? And I bet you're going to tell me that I'm a part of this wolf thing, like in your pack, right? Because I'm Sam's half-sister?" By now, her eyes were wide and her tone mocking.

I took a deep breath and held it, because I was getting angry again and I didn't want to be angry with her. I really didn't. "You are," was all I managed to grind out. My jaw was tight, but I had a hold on myself. I wasn't going to phase.

Then, she did something I completely didn't expect. She stepped closer, her tone thick with derision, but also husky and making the hair on my arms stand up and try to get to her. It was the most bizarre feeling. "Oh, and I bet now you're going to tell me that my brother-the-werewolf's wife Emily is his spiritual soul mate or something? Do you have one of those hiding away somewhere?" she said on a purr, one forefinger drawing a line from my wrist to my elbow. I opened my mouth to inhale, to calm myself, to keep myself either from shouting at her to have a little damned respect for our people or to claim her mouth entirely with my own.

Instead, I muttered, "She's not hiding. She's right in front of me, dammit."

Her richly-hued lips dropped open. "No. Oh, no she's not. No!"

This time, when she ran from me, I caught up with her in mere steps. "Look. I didn't ask for this," I told her. "I didn't ask for it at all."

"Get your hand _off_ me."

"I will when we get back to Embry's house. I told Sam I'd bring you back." Well, it was inferred, anyway.

"Does he know you're insane? Is _he_?"

I snorted. "He's the lead crazy wolf, Cassi," I murmured as we emerged from the covering shade of the forest and made a rapid pace back to Embry's place.

"What, some kind of Alpha Male or crap like that?"

"Exactly. You're pretty smart for a super model," I shot back.

With barely a glance flickered in my direction, she tossed her hair back over her shoulder. The one I wasn't holding. "And how many models do you know to compare? Prejudiced often?"

"You?"

"Shut up!" we snapped simultaneously.

And then, I had to laugh. I _had_ to. This was all just too ridiculous. "You know. Something's really wrong here. You can't possibly be my imprint," I gasped when I got my breath back. "Sure you're hot and all that, but I don't even think I like you."

We were getting close to Embry's house and I could hear Sam talking to Bella, faintly. Something about a book or manual. I shrugged it off just as Cassi shrugged my hand from her shoulder. "Exactly. Because I'm not. For the record, I don't think I like you, either, but yeah, you're hot. I'll give you that. You could model, you know. I could get you a shoot and you could get out of here."

"This is my home."

"Well, it's not mine. Nice meeting you, Jacob Black. I think maybe I can understand my brother a little better, now."

"Oh?"

"Yeah. So, um, thanks." Her blush reappeared as we reached Bella's door. "I think I'm here for a few days to try to get to know my brothers, if you want to argue again. And if I don't change my mind, there's a full moon in two days."

That came out of nowhere, as far as I was concerned. "What?" I asked, pulling the screen open for her.

"You know, so you can prove it to me?" Her tone was mocking again.

Sam was there as we stepped into the house. "Prove what?"

Bella, her hair pulled up in a ponytail, was staring, her gaze moving between me and Cassi, comprehension and concern burning in her eyes. "Jake? For real?"

"Prove some kind of legend, Sam," Cassi muttered.

I turned to answer Bella. "For real, yeah. I think so." Though how I could want to wrap Cassi Uley up in my arms while wanting to shout at her for being a condescending elitist seemed beyond me. If she was my imprint, wasn't I supposed to be practically rolling over at her feet, belly up? Hell, this was so confusing.

No baby on her shoulder at present, Bella moved closer and put her arm around my waist. "Oh Jake... I – I want to be happy for you."

I closed my eyes and held her, hugging my best friend, just like we used to do, out on the beach before things got all weird. "Me, too."

Sam smacked me lightly on the arm closest to him. "So you told her."

"Yeah."

"Full moon?"

I laughed again and met Cassi's clear brown gaze. "She thinks."

Comprehension flared in Sam's expression and we both chuckled but refused to share my plan and his understanding of it in front of Cassi. Two days until a full moon?

Ha. She'd see me in my wolf skin that night.

**~*~**

**Next time… See Jacob phase. See Cassi react. See Cassi and Leah get a copy of WG-101**


	5. Chapter 5: Show and Tell

**A/N: Apologies for the month-long break between updates! There's a lot going on in real life and in the fan fiction realm, so I'll just say, "I've been busy!" Also, I knew what I was going to write for Jacob and his imprint, but the HOW of it was bothering. Let's see how I did, eh?**

**Thank you for your patience! **

**We left Jake after he told Cassi about the imprint. She thinks he'll be changing into a werewolf for her at the next full moon. Jake knows better. So do you… **

**Thank you for reading! ~ LJ**

**

* * *

**

_**Show and Tell**_

"I think we should come with you," Embry said over dinner the evening of the day I had met Cassi. I was eating with him and Bella while we waited for Sam to join us. The house was filled with the aromas of a slow-cooked meal of beef and vegetables from Bella's crock pot. The beef was incredibly tender, and I told Bells so.

"Ruh-ree good," I mumbled around a mouthful. My mind was still reeling, so I wasn't worried too much about table manners.

"Thanks!" she said before folding a long green bean over her fork with her knife. "You realize there's, like, half a cow on your plates, you guys."

Embry grinned. "And no one serves half a cow like you."

Bella choked on her veggies, causing Embry and me to laugh out loud. She made a face and used her napkin to retrieve the partially-chewed green beans with delicate motions of her small hands. "Fine, see if I –"

She was interrupted by one of the kids' cries. Puffing out a breath, Embry started to get up. "I'm on it, sweetheart. Finish your dinner."

Bella lifted a hand to brush Embry's chest as he passed her from behind, then she looked to me. "So. You imprinted on Cassi?"

"Throw it right out there, Bells, go ahead," I muttered, pushing a bite of tender beef loin around to soak up any extra juices. "Yeah. I mean. I think so."

Her fork clattered on her plate. "You _think_ so?"

"Bells, I don't even think I _like_ her," I said on half a whine. I sounded maybe twelve, but I couldn't help it. "I know how it was when Embry imprinted on you, and how it was for the other guys, too, and – well. I don't know."

A strand of hair came loose from her ponytail; she tucked it behind her ear. "I'm not one of you guys, but I know how Embry was with me. Do you..." She rolled her lower lip between her teeth while studying my face. "Do you feel like you need to be with her? Like you've got a string on you, pulling you to her?"

"Yes," I growled softly, pushing the last remaining bite on my plate to the rim and back. "And all the stuff that the other guys felt, it's there. But I don't like her," I said again.

"Huh? What does that mean? You don't like her. Like, you're not, well, attracted to her?" Incredulity widened her eyes. "That'd be weird."

I had to chuckle. "No. That is so not the problem, Bells. Trust me."

She giggled and rose to collect the plates. I pushed her down with a finger on one of her shoulders. "Thanks," she said. "So. I'm coming with you guys tonight, by the way. And bringing the kids."

"Yeah, Embry did try to mention that earlier," I reminded her over my shoulder. Down the hall, I could hear Embry whisper something about Bella being stubborn. Like I didn't know? "What's up? It's not like I need the entire pack around when I show her, you know. She won't be in any danger." I turned the faucet on to make some noise and give myself some thinking time because Bella wouldn't likely talk while the water was running – too noisy.

As soon as I pushed the lever down to shut off the stainless steel faucet, Bella was leaning on the counter, her level brown eyes on mine. "Well, it's not for you, Jake. I was thinking of being there for her. This is going to completely freak her out."

I remembered how Cassi had looked when I'd told her the news earlier that day and shook my head. "I don't think so, Bells. But she'll need to know it isn't all, like, a special effects crew or something. She's thinking I have to wait for a full moon."

"So you're going tonight. And we're coming. Besides, Emily has something for Cassi. Wish she'd thought of it before." The wry humor in her voice was really welcome. I felt how incredible just being her friend really was. It was almost as much of a shock, feeling like this, as it was to have imprinted on Cassi Uley.

"What's she got?"

Bella's lips curled in a smile. "Something for Cassi. For any imprint, really. Sam was telling me about it while you were, um, out. It's a guide, to let her know what to expect and everything."

Surprise hit me hard. "A what? A guidebook?" I whispered, the understanding for sheer secrecy bone-deep within me. "She wrote this stuff down? What the hell was that woman thinking?"

Bella grimaced and lifted her hand to smack me. Then, she thought better of it and reached for a large serving spoon sitting in the jar of soapy water and used it to hit me instead. Clang! The damn spoon bent, but she made her point. We shared a smile. Then, Bells got all serious. "She was maybe thinking that we need some extra support, seeing as how we don't have that whole mind-thing. And maybe Claire might want a book, too."

I snorted. "Yeah, like when she can read? C'mon, Bells. You know our traditions and stuff," I said more seriously. "Sam must've been ticked off."

Bells lifted a brow. "And Emily's his imprint. He wants her to be happy," she reminded me softly.

Those simple words swirled in my head, confusing me and making me – damn it, making me _hot_ all at the same time. Not hot as in angry, but hot as in I wanted Cassi Uley in my arms right that minute.

I even started for the Calls' front door.

"Em?"

"What, Bella?" Embry's voice came with soft strength from down the hall. I paused with my hand on the screen door, remembering. Embry and I had been friends our whole lives and I could suddenly hear his kid-voice, high and sharp and laughing as we taunted the waves. I remembered how he sounded as we got older and his voice changed, before our whole _lives_ changed. Mine went high to low pretty fast; Embry's sort of slid into that deeper register in his throat. And then, it changed a little again since he'd become a dad. Almost like another layer had been added to it. Or maybe he was pitching it differently, now that there were kids in the house. Either way, it caught in my ear and I stopped, turning to see both my best friends standing between me and the kitchen, their arms around each other.

Studying me. Both of 'em. Their eyes similarly serious and concerned for me.

"Wait for us," Embry suggested with a little more weight. "We'll pack up the kids and you can ride over with us."

"It'll be faster if I _walk_," I chided, albeit without a lot of force.

"Fine, I'll call Emily," Bella said with a tilt of her head.

"All right, all right, I'll come with you. But hurry. I – I need to see her..."

Embry offered me a slanted smile that managed to say, _I told you so_ while conveying support. "It'll only take a couple minutes. I already got their diaper bag packed."

* * *

"Full moon's not for two more nights," Cassi sneered as I entered Sam and Emily's place. It used to just be Emily's, but Sam moved in before they got married (which we guys really appreciated, since Emily was such a good cook) and it was our usual hang out. "What're you doing back, Jacob?"

"Jake. I told you to call me _Jake_," I muttered at her as I passed near her body, inhaling as I did so. That whiff of cinnamon and vanilla eased muscles in my chest that I didn't even know had tightened up in the mere hours since I had been close to Sam and Embry's half-sister. "And I'm back with your other brother, Cassi. And your sister-in-law and your niece and nephew."

Why was I needling her? It irked her, I could tell in the compression of her full lips and the slight flaring of her delicate nostrils. I wanted to trace the shape of those lips, her nose, her eyes her ears...all of them, with my fingers, my lips...!

Damn. I had it _bad_.

"Where's Emily?" Bella asked as she shoved me out of the way with one arm. It wasn't as if she could really push me, but subconsciously my body gave way to her. Part of it was habit, I guessed. Part of it was because I had cared about Bella Swan since forever and I would always get out of her way if she really really needed me to. "I want to see her latest project."

Cassi rolled her eyes a little. "Emily?"

"Coming, Cassi! Sam, c'mon," Emily added more quietly. Of course Embry and I heard her. She came out of the master bedroom, shrugging on a light blue shirt and holding two leather folders that tied with leather cords. "Hey, guys. Hi, Bells. How're the kids?"

"Doing good, Emily, thanks. Whatcha got?"

"Well, you kind of helped me do this," Emily said, giving one of the leather books to Bella and handing the other to Cassi. "_WG-101_."

Cassi held it up, a derisive question in her dark eyes. "What, am I going to school, now? Look, Emily, Sam. I've got college courses, okay? I so don't need this."

"Yes, you do," Emily insisted. Bella gasped as she set Hemeh down in his carrier and opened her copy. "See? Even Bells thinks so."

"Whatever. So, _Jacob_, why are you here?"

"You need to see it and you think you're leaving and I have to show you why you can't," I blurted. I hadn't thought that out, though, and I winced all over my face.

"Damn right I'm leaving, Jacob Black. And just because you and my delusional brother – maybe brothers? – think there's this whole myth living here in the Pacific Northwest," she said with a dark mocking humor there at the end, "doesn't mean I have to skip my shoot in Alaska next week. Get over yourself."

We were all kind of stunned to silence, even Sam and Emily. Standing around Sam and Emily's small-ish living room, the cold fireplace off to my left, the dining table and Emily's computer far to my right, I just gaped at Cassi. How did she do this to me? How did she manage to take my words away with only a few of her own? I could imagine howling, just then. Howling just like Embry had done that one time right after he imprinted on Bells. She'd leave and my mind would just blank out, like Embry's had done and I'd be lost –

"You get over yourself, Cassandra," Bella snapped into the heavy, roiling quiet. Bella's voice was sharp. Part of me wanted to shut her up, part of me wanted to hear what she had to say. "No, you don't have to skip your shoot, but you do need to see what Jake and the guys have to tell you. You need to read that book in your hands. You need to – to open your mind up and think that maybe the world is a little more complicated than you thought it was yesterday." Bells puffed out a breath and, even though she was scowling, she walked right up and cocked her head to look up into Cassi's face. "I know it's weird. I totally get that. I'm an imprint, too."

"Oh no. I am so not a – a what?" Cassi whipped her head around to glare at me. "That mystical mate thing? An imprint? Is that what this is?"

A slew of words were rumbling around on my tongue like marbles but I shook my head and moved past her to the back door. "Come on. You have to see it to believe it."

I banged out of the house, unbuttoning my shirt as I did. I felt the cooling evening air caress my skin as I checked out the backyard with eyes, ears and nose. I sensed nothing and nobody beyond those people who followed me out. So, I caught Sam's eye with a grin that was actually sincere. _Teach that runway model she doesn't know everything_...

Sam grinned back and kissed Emily on the top of her head. Embry did the same with Bella and the girls flanked Cassi after Embry handed Hennah off to Emily. My pack brothers shed their shirts and tossed them on top of mine, on a row of green hedges Emily used to line what she would call a "patio" in the backyard. Painted wooden chairs might have done just as well, but I was going with my gut and tossing it on some plants.

"What are they doing?" Cassi's voice, her confusion and disbelief, touched me and almost – almost – made me stop disrobing but I didn't. Sam and Embry and I all shucked our trousers – they in front of their respective wives and me in front of my imprint and I couldn't find it in myself to be embarrassed in front of any of them. It wasn't as if the girls didn't know we all knew that they looked like naked. Well, not Cassi, but... _Enough, Jake. Clear your head right this second! _ I shook myself.

"You okay with this?" Embry joked as we kicked our shoes off in the general direction of the rest of our clothes. "Don't want to scare the new girl..."

"She should know she's got the best and biggest," I jeered back, our butts to the girls. "Ready?"

Sam laughed lightly. "Oh, hell yes. Why not? Never did _this_ before..." He checked quickly back over his shoulder. I knew from his expression that he was just making sure Emily was far enough away from him to be safe.

She was. They all were. Embry, Sam and I eyed each other and then – we phased.

Without anger, it was a matter of calling on the known changes in our bodies. I felt my muscles shift, my bones lengthen, my skin opened up and the air seemed to shimmer all around me. In a matter of a second, all of this happened. The pain was a flash and I ignored it, because I knew it'd be over soon. I merely lowered myself to all fours and, along with my brothers, turned to face the girls.

My eyes were riveted on my imprint's face. Beautiful. My thoughts were wordless beyond that as I looked at her through my wolf eyes. Superlatives. Emotions. They spun through me and I didn't care for a moment that Sam and Embry had to live through this with me. Too. Damn. Bad. My eyes traced Cassi's open-mouthed incredulity, the way the failing light caught in her heavy hair, the way her curves pressed against the light fabric of her dress, the line of her legs...

_Enough, already! _Sam barked. Humor laced with exasperation communicated itself to me. _We all have to deal with this but enough, already. You okay with going closer or what?_

_Yeah. Let's. _

Embry went first. Bella had never shown fear with us, once she knew what we were. She had approached Embry from the very first time he showed his wolf-skin to her. She did so now, with their son in one arm, she stepped to meet Embry and plowed her fingers through his fur.

_That is just so nice. I never get used to how good that feels_, Embry sighed to himself. Of course we all heard him.

Emily wasn't quite as easy with approaching Sam with a baby in her embrace, but she did step closer and hold up little Hennah. Sam chuffed a small laugh. The Alpha and his mate were very cautious about touching while he was all furred. None of us blamed either of them.

Cassi's eyes rounded as they darted from Bells and Embry to Sam and Emily. I heard her heartbeat race – it was suddenly the loudest and most significant sound in the world. Her breath was rushing in and out between her parted lips. I stepped closer to her, my head down a little, because even though she was tall, I didn't want to scare her.

"J- Jake?" she gasped, her skin flushing and pale in alternate waves. She called me _Jake_! That made me happy enough that my tail wagged.

"It's okay, Cassi," Emily murmured calmly. "He's totally safe. You don't have to be afraid of him."

I expected Cassi Uley to snap out that she wasn't even afraid, but she didn't. Instead, her mouth closed and she swallowed audibly. "O-kay. I know it's you," she whispered. "I saw you. But this is – is way out there, Jake, you know that?" Her obvious confusion moved me.

I got down on my belly and looked up at her, trying to look as harmless as possible. I chuffed and briefly considered rolling over and doing a couple of stupid tricks like we did sometimes when it was just the pack all getting together. Rolling over, jumping up, turning around and leaping like we were trying out for the _Wolfolympics_ or something.

"He knows it's way out there," Emily said as the sun completely disappeared from the sky. It was darkish, now, and the children started getting a little restless. Emily shifted Hennah to her other arm and Sam padded back to the bushes to be near his clothes when he phased human again. "He knows, Cassi. Bella? Why don't we go in and let these two talk?"

Bella actually brushed her nose to Embry's canine one and nodded. "Okay. I think Hemi needs changing, anyway."

Embry chuffed out in our peculiar form of laughter and I swear he grinned at Bells before he turned and phased too, sliding into his jeans with hardly a pause that I could hear. I didn't look at either of the guys as they collected their clothes and their wives and went inside.

I only had eyes for Cassi. I tried to encourage her to touch me. I wanted to feel her fingers on my fur. To listen to what her heart sounded like when she touched me, like Bella caressed Embry. I wanted that. I wanted it with a sudden sharp slice in my chest.

But she didn't do it. Instead, she crouched down to look me in the eye, which shocked me. "All right. So you don't need a full moon, I get it. Um, can you, like, talk like this? I - I'm thinking we need to talk."

I nodded slowly, careful not to brush against her and frighten her. Walking backwards on four legs was awkward, but I did so, keeping my eye on her and phasing back to my human skin, grabbing my shorts, feeling nervous and serious as my own heart raced inside me.

Then, I caught her eyeing me up and down and I laughed to myself. "D'you mind?"

She shook her head and did that off-center lip-pursing thing I had noted earlier. "Not. At. All."

**

* * *

**

**A/N 2: Just a note: The concurrent story to this one, Never Saw That Coming, is up for BEST IMPRINT at the Silent Tear Awards! Please check my profile for the voting link, if you're so inclined. Thanks!**


	6. Chapter 6: Make Up and Kiss

**A/N: My apologies for the delay! If you are not aware, I have started the final (I hope!) story in my Imprinting: The Mating Imperative series. It involves Leah. (For reference, please refer to my story, Wolf Girls 101). Since my last chapter of Jake's story, I have begun and gone three chapters into Leah's. The way these two tales have glanced off one another have made it kind of imperative for me to now write them concurrently. Hence the delay. **

**More at the end… Thanks for sticking with me! ~LJ**

* * *

_Previously:_

_I only had eyes for Cassi. I tried to encourage her to touch me. I wanted to feel her fingers on my fur. To listen to what her heart sounded like when she touched me, like Bella caressed Embry. I wanted that. I wanted it with a sudden sharp slice in my chest._

_But she didn't do it. Instead, she crouched down to look me in the eye, which shocked me. "All right. So you don't need a full moon, I get it. Um, can you, like, talk like this? I - I'm thinking we need to talk."_

_I nodded slowly, careful not to brush against her and frighten her. Walking backwards on four legs was awkward, but I did so, keeping my eye on her and phasing back to my human skin, grabbing my shorts, feeling nervous and serious as my own heart raced inside me._

_Then, I caught her eyeing me up and down and I laughed to myself. "D'you mind?"_

_She shook her head and did that off-center lip-pursing thing I had noted earlier. "Not. At. All."_

_**Part 8: Make Up and Kiss**_

By the time Cassi and I were back indoors, Embry and Bella had taken the twins and left for home. Sam, lounging in the recliner nearest the hearth, crossed one leg over the other. _Well?_ his look seemed to say to me.

_Well?_ I looked hard right back at him. What did he think had happened, anyway?

Emily, leather-bound book in her hand, walked right up to Cassi. "Here. You left it on the table." Then, the newish Mrs. Uley settled herself on Sam's lap and held my eyes with her own.

"You woulda made a hell of a werewolf," I told Emily with a reluctant smile. I didn't _want_ to smile, but the woman drove me to it, I swear.

"Thanks," she responded wryly. "One in the house is enough. So. Cassi. Still walking around thinking we're all crazy Natives?"

My arm swung all by itself to wrap around Cassi's shoulders as she stood in the middle of the small living room. Golden light from a shaded table lamp made her skin glow and all I wanted to do was touch it. Touch her. Wrap her up next against myself and inhale and –

"No. Not exactly. What's this book?" She shrugged me off with a cutting glance. "I told you, I'm already enrolled in college, Sam. I don't need another class."

"You need this one. But you can't take it out in public anywhere," Sam told her, his voice deep and firm. "Emily wrote it."

Cassi rolled her eyes and I looked down my nose a little at her when she sneered, "I'll make sure to give it my undivided attention then, Big Brother."

Fury pumped through me in a flash and I was all set to stomp out myself when I heard running steps outside that slowed down as they hit the drive. Sam heard them too and we both took a quick sniff of the air. Normally, no one said anything when any of us did that, because we've grown used to being sneaky about it.

Count on Cassi to be overly observant. "Sniffing? Like a dog on a scent?"

"How d'you think I tracked you down earlier?"

"Oh, now I'm, like, your prey?" Her lips were parted as she turned under my arm and met my eyes with an expression that seemed a mix between surprise and snark. "Oh no, wait. I remember," she whispered as someone knocked on the door. "I'm your mystic mate!"

A response – okay, so it wasn't going to be a nice one – was on the tip of my tongue when Leah opened the door. I knew her secret by now, but Cassi didn't. Sam and Emily did, too, I could see as Emily darted a glance to the leather-covered book Cassi was holding.

Leah and I exchanged looks and the strangest thing happened. Cassi got all defensive. I don't know how I knew that, but I did. It was an instinct to figure her out. She almost seemed to want to step in front of me. I know her upper body sort of lurched in that general direction anyway, but my arm was still around her and so she didn't actually go anywhere.

Before I could say anything to cut the sudden, thick tension in the air, Leah's eyes lit up like a firework display and she laughed loudly. "No way, Jake! Did you find your imprint in California after all?"

My heart jumped a little – I so didn't want to have to explain California to Cassi – and I shook my head once and pressed my fingers lightly into my imprint's shoulder. Just a little. "Cassi. This is another member of the pack. Emily's cousin, Leah Clearwater." I felt myself smirk as I saw Leah take _that_ in. "Leah, this is my imprint, Cassi _Uley_."

Sam grimaced, I could see out the corner of my eye. Emily just held his hand while Leah choked that one down. "Uley?" she repeated, sounding like she didn't believe it for a second.

Our Alpha nodded. "Uley. She and I – and Embry – all had the same father."

Leah's face scrunched up before she said two words. "Holy. Hell."

Cassi blew out an impatient breath and eyed me again, her eyebrows rising high into her forehead. I felt this huge rush of, of feeling for her. The wish to brush my lips over the furrows in her brow was almost overwhelming, but I managed to just inhale her scent as she and Leah shook hands and did that mannered female ritual stuff.

I had noticed something since going all canine, and that was that dogs were a lot more complicated than people, but they tended to get acquainted by sniffing each other's butts. Somehow, the image of Cassi and Leah doing that almost had me laughing. So much so that I had to make up an excuse and hit the bathroom down the hall because I was going to bust a gut otherwise. Oh, Leah and Sam were going to have at me next time we were phased...

When I got back to the living room, everyone was still standing around awkwardly, but Cassi had put the leather book on the coffee table again. She turned to me, the motion fluid as if she were on a catwalk in a bathing suit – like I really needed my head to go there – and said, "Uh, Jake?" She called me _Jake_ again! I felt myself trying to smile before I remembered I still didn't think I liked her. "I told you I needed to talk. Can we go do that someplace?" She shot Leah a guarded, angry glance. "Someplace _private_?" I think I almost swallowed my tongue at the cool sexiness of her voice. Where the hell had _that_ come from?

Still, I didn't want a pack-war or something happening, and Leah's temper was uncertain. "Don't go taking Sam's head off, Leah," I shot to the only female pack member at a vocal level Cassi wouldn't be able to catch. "He didn't know."

She nodded and I tried to get Cassi out of the house before things got ugly. I felt a tension pulsing almost tangibly around Leah and I didn't know what it was about – she'd spent the weeks before my vacation being the angriest, most volatile girl ever in the history of the Rez, I was pretty sure. Not that I blamed her, exactly, but it was kind of hard to live with. I had my hand on Cassi's back, right where the curve was just so tempting. Too high, and I'd be brushing the unmentionables. Any lower and I'd be cupping her backside in my palm... And oh, I really wanted to. Like my inner wolf just wanted to feel every inch of my imprint.

And I couldn't. But it was dark and we were leaving and she had said she wanted to talk... I wondered what she wanted to talk about, with the fur stuff. Was she going to tell me that she hated me and wanted me to jump in the ocean and die? I put nothing past Cassi Uley.

But there was a lot I'd like to show her. About me. About her people. Things she didn't know, maybe.

My inner head-trip was interrupted by Cassi asking, "Sam? Can I get a flashlight or something? It's dark."

I was about to turn to the kitchen and get the one I knew Emily kept under their sink but Emily beat me to a response, blurting out, "You won't need it. He won't let you fall." Oh, great. Like Cassi needed another reminder of all this canine-senses stuff?

I rolled my eyes at Sam and was about to comment when Cassi – the girl was sharp – spat, "What? Supernatural night vision, too?"

Dropping my hand from her, I inhaled deeply to stave off the instinctive anger. Conflict hit me again. Did I _want_ her or did I want to kick her _butt_? My response was – once again – interrupted by one of the lightning-fast females in the room.

Leah's turn, her voice too loud for the space we were in, making me wince a little. "Yeah! So enjoy it, why don't you?"

"Enough, Leah," I muttered, opening the door and getting Cassi out of the Uley's house. "C'mon, Cassi, let's talk."

She huffed as she left, not stopping until she was next to Sam's car. "Yeah. Look." She grimaced and looked up at the sky, where clouds were obscuring the stars. She looked amazing. All long neck and thick hair as she leaned against the faded paint of the Uley's sedan. "I can't say I don't believe you, obviously. Did – did my dad know about the wolf thing being for real, do you think?"

I heard the uncertainty in her voice. A vulnerability I had seen earlier in the day. Had I only just met her? Really? Everything in my life seemed to be about her, right now. I settled myself in front of her, waiting for her to meet my eyes as the sea breeze wove its way to us from the Pacific. "I don't think so. We were all kind of taken by surprise, Cassi. We didn't ask for this, I swear."

I could sense the blood moving under her skin as she studied my face. "Okay. And I have to say, Jacob Black, you make a really....handsome...wolf."

I swallowed my heart back out of my throat. The curl to her voice was all about invitation, but I didn't want to push it. I didn't really trust her yet, to be honest. And that felt like I was betraying her at the same time it felt like I was thinking clearly. "Uh, thanks?"

"So, you're a werewolf. You have amazing senses. You are really tall, and strong and fast, and you think I'm your mystic mate, huh? What the hell am I supposed to say to that? What does that mean for me?"

"Um, where's that book? I bet Emily has some good ideas, because she was the first one –"

Cassi cut me off with a sharp motion of one hand. "I left it in there. I'll get it on my way to bed, okay?" I nodded. "Fine. So. I mean, I am not going to stick around and let you...do...whatever it is you do. Not to me. I have a _life_, Jake. I have a shoot in Alaska and a degree I'm working on. I only have a few years to use this body for something before I'll be too old, you know? I don't have time to even think about settling down with anyone. Not for any reason."

Surprise had me almost frozen. "I wouldn't want you to stop what you're doing, Cassi." It was the truth. I wanted her to be happy. She wasn't Bella with a half-dozen vampires trying to eat her alive. Or change her. This was just a girl – a gorgeous woman, really – who was genetic perfection. For me. "Look, it's all really complicated. It is. I mean – Emily usually talks..." My voice faltered when I she threw up her hands and took that one step closer that I needed to be able to catch the faintest energy that surrounded her. It warmed my up, scrambled my brain, made me focus so sharply on her that I didn't even hear what was happening in the house.

"Enough about Emily! Gah!" Impatient, she pressed by me, taking my hand and stalking away from the car and off to the woods behind the house. "You've got the super-vision, you do this. Come on."

"What the _hell_, Cassi?" I was completely baffled by her. She was making me insane. I'd be howling at the moon while _with_ my imprint, for crying out loud, she had me so turned around. I saw she wanted to get away, so I held her hand more securely and led the way beyond Sam's property, out toward the clearing where we played tag football and stuff sometimes, while the girls watched. She tripped and hissed a little in pain. I didn't ask, but just scooped her up in my arms and carried her – like I had carried Bells I don't know how many times. But this was different and I knew it immediately. Oh, I remembered loving how Bella Swan felt in my arms. I had. Tiny and fragile and vulnerable and needing me. But this was totally different. This was my imprint. She was long and gorgeous and I had endless legs draped over my arm and her hips between my elbows and her disbelieving face only inches from mine.

But she wasn't saying a thing. I was shocked.

Finally, we got through the trees and onto the matted earth and tufts of grass that made up the floor of the clearing. I heard one of my brothers howl in the distance. Who was on patrol? Jared, maybe. I nodded.

"That - that was one of you guys, right?" Cassi murmured, turning to peer off into the night, as if she'd see a giant wolf show up in the tree line.

"Yeah. Jared. He's on patrol tonight."

"Wow. On patrol because of the, the Cold Ones," Cassi stated, no question in her quiet voice. "So. Wow. Okay. Have you ever...?"

"Seen one? Yes. Fought them? Yes. They were after Bella – Embry's imprint. You met her earlier?"

Cassi darted a glance right up at me. "Her? What for?"

"Long story. But yeah. Maybe... Maybe you should talk to her about this stuff, if Emily makes you too uncomfortable."

Snotty Cassi was back. "No one makes me too uncomfortable. If I want to talk to someone, I will." Her eyelids dropped a little and she started sounding all seductive again. "And if I want to be with someone, I will. But only if I want to, understand?"

My mouth was dry and my arms were literally twitching because I wanted to hold her right next to me, to feel her heart beat next to mine. And I couldn't, because I just – couldn't. She hadn't said I could yet, and so I was stuck. "Do you want to?" I managed to rasp.

And then, she traced her fingernails up my forearms. "I'm still trying to figure you out, Jake," she told me, her eyes tracing lines on my face as she drew as near to me as she had ever been. "I can't stay. I don't want to be any kind of mystic mate or something, but –"

My heart was crashing, elated but hurting, too. My imprint was rejecting me, but she was still here with me, touching me, and her whole body was giving off such a scent...! On instinct, nothing stopping me, I slowly wrapped my arms around her and studied her face. Her eyes slid to my lips and back up to my own and I went in slowly. "Are you sure you want this?" I had to ask. I had to. Hating myself for giving her an out, but I had to know for sure.

"Kiss me, Jacob Black."

That was all the invitation I needed. I held her head with one of my hands, my other arm wrapped around her. I didn't go for her lips immediately. I needed to taste her. Taste her hair, her skin, to drink her in because she was my first and best reason for breathing, now. Cinnamon...vanilla...heat...woman...soft... And then, from her temple, around her jaw and sliding up, I reached those full, richly-hued lips. And I exploded, inside. No shy girl, my Cassi. She plowed her fingers into my short hair and moaned into my mouth, her lips parting. I inhaled, tasting her, deepening the kiss as she had allowed me.

I don't know how long we were there, our bodies practically wrapped around each other as the clouds blew away with the salt-laced wind, but I know that I wasn't the same guy I had been when I lifted my head from hers. I couldn't seem to move from her. Not at all.

She didn't move either, not at first. Her heart was pounding like a dancer's drum inside her ribs and I knew for a fact that she had been as into that kiss as I was.

"Jake?" she whispered, her eyes never leaving my face.

"What?"

"I - I need to read that book."

* * *

**A/N: Well! What do you think? *grin***

**As you may know, one of my stories, FROM THE WINGS, made it into the Indie TwiFic Awards final ballot! It is up for Best New Moon Story, and voting starts today. The website is linked on my profile page, above AWARDS, if you are so inclined to vote. I highly recommend you check out the list of finalists as well as the other nominees for some TERRIFIC stories! I know I'd totally appreciate your vote for mine! **

**Thanks for reading… See you soon!**


	7. Chapter 7: Goodbye Stinks

**A/N:**

**Thanks so much for the fun reviews y'all have been leaving me! To answer one question: No.**

**I mean, no, I'm not going to be flipping the point of view over to Cassi. Until the epilogue. ;-)**

**Reminder…after this update, I'll be updating **_**Never Saw That Coming**_**. **

**Thanks for reading! ~LJ**

* * *

"No, just go on, Jake. I'll answer her questions. She might not feel she can ask you anything. Me, though..."

I wasn't happy about it, but I listened to Emily and finished her sentence for her. "You've been holding _Wolf Girls 101_ classes since Jared imprinted on Kim. Yeah. I know."

Cassi walked me out the front door. Again. "So. I'm still not staying, Jacob." We were back to _Jacob_ again. Dammit. I rolled my eyes as she continued. "But, I'd really like to keep in touch, you know?" She moistened her lips and smiled into my eyes.

Tempting. It really was. But as much as she got to me, I still had to ask, "I'd like for you to get to know your brothers."

She huffed and stepped back and away from me. See, this was my problem with Cassi Uley. Parts of me – the hormonal part, the wolf part, the instinctive part – _loved_ this woman. She was my imprint. I wanted her to be happy. _Happy_. But could I ever make her that way? I mean, even with that dynamite kiss earlier that night, I did not get the sense that Cassi was or would ever be _happy_.

"Yeah, I know. I'm here for another day or two, so we can work on that, all right?"

"We?"

She frowned and moved away from me, toward the welcoming light in Emily's house. "We, as in Sam and, and Embry and me." I felt her implied rejection like a punch to my heart. Then, she took another step, touched the screen door and said, "Will I see you again? Before I go?"

Part of me hated to just roll over and say yes. I wanted to be stronger than that. I wanted to tell her, I'd see her when she had read the book. After she had taken a day or two to get to know her brothers. I wanted to tell her that she didn't have to do me any favors by seeing me.

I wanted to say all of that. But what I said was, "Yeah. I'll come by tomorrow. Read that book, okay?"

"I said I would," she snapped, already opening the screen door to enter the house. "I keep my promises. My dad taught me that much."

"Cassi..."

Her voice softened. "Sorry, Jake. I don't know why I'm taking that stuff out on you. Except that you seem to be on their side."

"There aren't any sides," I assured her, my body moving nearer to hers without my express decision. I stopped with a foot on the front porch. "It's just that you've judged my closest friends without even knowing them, Cassi. Is that even fair?"

With an exasperated sound, she turned and flounced into the house. I stayed there, standing like an idiot, as long as her scent was curled around me.

Why did I want to imprint, again?

* * *

I was not invited to join any discussions Sam and Embry had with their half-sister. Their memories of their visits with her were clear – they didn't hide anything from me – and I could see that every time they brought up Emily's imprint guide, Cassi shut them down. Hard.

The same way she shut me down. Most of the time. Kiss or no kiss, she hadn't really wanted to talk with me.

"Jacob? It's Cassi."

My heart practically stopped when I got her call on the day I knew she had planned on leaving. I had stayed away during the day, only running around the house and spending the night – like a stupid _dog_ – outside her bedroom window. The guys had laughed at first, but they weren't laughing now. Everyone had seen in Sam and Embry's memories how my imprint was planning on leaving La Push. My brothers who had imprinted cringed when they thought of how it might be for me and for them while she was gone. My brothers who hadn't imprinted felt bad, too, because all the shared memories came with a full-on set of emotions.

It sucked. Big time.

"Yeah, Cassi," I said over the sudden pounding of my heart. At least she didn't have wolf-ears. "How've you been?" Like I didn't know.

"I'm good. Yeah. So, I'm leaving in a couple of hours. Ya got a minute?"

I didn't even put a filter on my mouth. "Sure. I'll be right over."

When I got to Sam's house, Cassi was waiting on the porch, dressed in a pair of jeans and a bright purple tank top that had my eyes all focusing on the curves underneath the fabric. I shook myself and made my focus stay on her face. It was hard, but I did because Cassi totally didn't need me ogling her. She got that enough, with her work. "Hey, Jake."

"Jake, again?" I asked, my challenge in my tone. What was she doing to me? "What'd you want, Cassi?"

She brought the small leather volume out from behind her. "I wanted to talk about this."

"Okay. Talk."

With a roll of her eyes, she hissed, "Here? Really?"

Just as I agreed to take her on a walk, the clouds moved in – they were rarely really gone – and I could smell the rain. "Well if not here, then we'll have to run somewhere, because it's going to be wet here, pretty soon."

"Fine!" She came down to stand right in front of me. "So? The woods?"

"Uh...okay?"

Without any apparent weird awkwardness, she transferred the book to her right hand and put her left in my right. I swallowed. There she was. Touching me again. A turn of her head brought her nose close to my bare should and I swear she inhaled. "Are you...sniffing me?" I whispered as I led her away.

"Maybe. I told you I'd read Emily's book, you know."

I glanced down at her. Though she was almost six feet tall in the flat sneakers she wore, I was still taller by several inches. "I know. And you said you keep your promises."

She smiled a little at that and I felt a warmth smooth in my middle like – like s'mores. "I do, you know. And so I have to tell you I won't promise you anything."

I turned my eyes to the trees and kept walking, wishing my heart wasn't hurting like Paul had knuckle-punched me. I mean, I knew this. I knew she was going to go away. I totally knew. But still. I couldn't think of a thing to say that would keep her here. She had said from the moment that we'd met, practically that she was leaving. Both her brothers had heard it, the entire pack had heard it.

Once we'd reached the trees, I led her to a hunk of granite we guys in the pack all used to drop our shorts on when we were messing around while phasing. She and I both perched on top of the rock, but we were facing into the forest instead of back at Sam and Emily's house. I could smell the sweet vanilla and sassy cinnamon with each shift of her body. My fingers twitched, wanting to bury themselves in her hair. My arms ached for her. Literally. I'd never felt quite that way before - not even when I was butt-over-brain for Bella Swan.

Well, duh, right? I mean, Bella was Embry's perfect mate. And Cassi Uley was _mine_.

"So... What did you think?" I asked her after a few moments of silence when all I could focus on was the memory of Cassi's lips on mine.

"About the book? It was... Informative," she said, sounding detached. As if I weren't a werewolf and she wasn't my imprint. And as if I had phased right in front of her less than a week ago. "I, um, don't have time for this, Jake. I just – just don't."

"Can I see that thing?" I asked, wondering what Emily had said. I hadn't bothered to read it before. Why should I? I figured I pretty much knew anything Emily needed to tell any new imprints.

Cassi handed it to me and untied the cover before opening it. "Pretty smart of her," my imprint offered as possibly the only compliment she'd made in La Push. "Tying the thing closed so that even if someone took it anywhere and it fell, nothing would fall open and get read accidentally."

"Yeah, Emily's pretty smart," I murmured. "You're his imprint and he loves you," I read aloud, frowning.

"That was weird," Cassi responded. "I mean – it's not fair to you at all. I know I'd pitch a fit if I felt like that about a complete stranger." She hitched herself around and took my hand in hers again. Her scent swirled around me and I wanted to close my eyes and lose myself in it. "Really, Jake. You're a strong guy. You are. You don't have to do this."

"I don't have a choice," I ground out, squeezing her hand gently. "It's you, Cassi. And - I can't change that."

"Did _you_ read that book? You can, you know."

I snorted and thumbed over to the next chapter. Mating imperative? _Oh, thanks a hell of a lot, Emily_. "I know this was probably weird to throw at you, Cassi."

"Weird? When we talked about that whole mystic mate thing – _that_ was weird. What are you referring to?" She touched the words on top of my finger. "Oh, yeah. _That_. Jake. I am not wanting to start a family. I've got my modeling and then I want to start my clothing line and –"

I closed the book, trapping her hand in it and shutting her up at the same time. "I know all that. What else?"

She rolled her eyes. I swear, she was acting more like Embry's sister every moment. "What else? Like I don't want to live here? Like I don't want to be tied down? Like what, exactly?"

The question simmered, but I had to ask it. "Do you – do you have a boyfriend?"

"No."

Relief rippled under my skin. "Okay. So."

"I can't have you following me around, Jacob Black. C'mon, do you really, like, go insane...?" Disbelief crinkled her forehead.

That was a worry for me. "Yeah. So far, the guys have if they're away from their imprints."

"Damn. What the hell am I supposed to do about that?" she cried, making this graceful scoot-hop-jump landing from the boulder to the ground. "I never asked to be responsible for someone else's sanity, you know."

There was a physical shift inside of me. A shifting, a pulling, a pressure that told me that nothing else was more important than soothing her. Than keeping her content. Safe. Comfortable. It was all I wanted, beyond taking her in my arms and covering her with my body and...

_Enough, Jake_.

I ran my free hand over my hair and blew out a harsh breath. "I know," I whispered. "But I don't know how long I can – how long I can keep it together without you, now."

She visibly relaxed her body, from the set of her head to the angle of her hands. "It's been, what, two days since you've seen me?"

I snorted. "No. I've, uh, been around, Cassi. You just haven't', um, seen me. I've been outside your window at night. Emily made sure it was open for me."

"You creep!" she rasped, smacking me on the knee. She winced and shook her hand free from the probable sting.

I didn't apologize; it had been her idea to hit a werewolf. "No. I was outside my friend's house. I had to be, Cassi. You have no idea..."

Her eyes softened, warming again as she studied my face. Maybe I just looked pathetic. I totally _felt_ pathetic, anyway. "No, I know. But that doesn't mean I'm gonna just drop everything for this guy I only met two days ago, either. Who turns into a huge wolf and tells me I'm his – his imprint, for Pete's sake. No."

I touched her hair. She didn't move away, so I cupped her face in my hand. "So you're leaving."

"Yeah."

A question pulsed in my head and, though I felt like a complete loser, I had to ask it. "If – if you didn't have a shoot in Alaska... Would you stay?"

"Planning on sabotaging it?"

"No. Just, uh, wondering."

"Maybe. Maybe I'd stay. For the summer." She dropped her gaze to my arm, bringing her hand up to trace curls and shapes on my skin with her fingernail.

I shivered at her touch. "What about if – if I wasn't a werewolf? Would that matter...?"

I was totally surprised when she smiled right into my eyes. "Actually, I think that's kind of hot, you know? Remember, I grew up as Joshua Uley's daughter..." Anguish changed her face in a heartbeat and I slid down to the ground to take her into my arms.

"I miss my dad, Jake," she whispered against my chest, her arms wound around me tightly, clinging as if I were the only safe thing she knew. That warmed my heart, but I couldn't smile while she was crying.

"I know, Cassi. I know."

Sam took her to Seattle an hour later. I phased and ran patrol, wanting to howl my heartbreak at the full moon.

How long before I lost my mind?

* * *

**A/N: That is a very good question!**


	8. Chapter 8: Tick Tock, Tick Tock

_**A/N: I'd apologize for the delay and give you a heap of very valid reasons, but why don't we skip it and just get to Jake?**_

_**With thanks to my friend Katmom, who proofed this for me because my eyes were blurry as I wrote. Thanks, too, to Valelf who enjoys my Jake. :)**_

_**Note: This is a rather morose Jacob, who is separated from his imprint. Be gentle. ~LJ**_

_**

* * *

**_

_**Chapter 8: Tick tock, tick tock. Who's afraid of that big ol' clock? ME.**_

At first, I measured my sanity by a clock. I ran my patrol and checked in after a few hours had passed.

_You all right?_ It was Embry. He phased with images of Bella and the babies and of a memory of Cassi's goodbye kiss to me... _Sorry, bro. Six hours. You all right?_ he asked again.

I padded up to my house, where I could smell Billy and the remains of dinner as I hunkered down on the beaten earth near the front door. _ I'm all right. Thanks. Are you on, now?_

_Nope. Just checking in. Isabella and I were worried._

I tried to laugh in my head. _Thanks. I'll see if I can get a plan in place in the morning. It's been a hell of a day._

_Get some sleep. Could be you'll need another vacation. Lucky dog._

_Shut up, Em._

_Later._

I showered, crashed on the small excuse for a bed in my room and woke up with a hard summer rain beating on the thin glass of my bedroom window. I took a bleary look at the clock on my nightstand. Six-oh-six staring me in the face with green numbers. I got about seven hours of actual sleep. My limbs felt heavy as I rolled off my bed and landed with a thunk on the thinly-carpeted floor. How many hours? Sixteen? So far, Embry had had the shortest "sanity" window with his thirty hours. Sam had gone four days. I probably had either a twenty-four hour window (a guess, since I was the hereditary Alpha) or up to a week (again, a guess since I was the freaking hereditary Alpha). I could suck it up and pull an Embry when the mystery line had been crossed.

But who would play _my_ part in that particular re-enactment? Who would run for _my_ imprint and bring her to me, like I ran to get Bella when Embry needed her? I'd be totally screwed.

What other option did I have? Follow her? I didn't even know where she'd be... How did I manage not to get stupid details like that?

"Jake? Son?" Billy rolled out of the kitchen as I stepped into the living room. "You all right?"

Fury ripped down my back and left me shaking, barely controlling my impulse to phase. "Will. You. All. Stop. Effing. Asking. Me. That?" I hardly recognized my voice; I sounded like I had gravel in my jaw. My dad's face was impassive, his hands on the wheels of his chair as I just glared at him. "I'm. Fine."

"Oh, yeah, that I can really see, Jake. The 'mellow' is oozing out all over."

At his words, I did relax a little, but I instantly found the kitchen clock. How long before I lost my mind? "Dad?"

"Sam called. Just before you woke up. Told me what was going on with Cassi. I'm sorry, Jake." Billy, in a pair of boxers and a bleached white undershirt, sighed heavily and wheeled himself out of my way as I lumbered past him. I felt like an elephant, my body was so tired. "I really don't want to hear you howling for days, either, while we track her down."

"Track her down?" I blinked and reached for some juice. We go through gallons of orange juice every week. Pouring it into a big plastic tumbler, I leaned against the counter. "What do you mean, Dad? I don't know where in Alaska that girl went." Damn it! Why hadn't I asked? What could I do? How do I find her?

The phone rang, the ringer so old it sounded like a really loud wooden clacker inside the ancient green plastic. "What?" I yelled, certain it was Sam again, bugging me about my sanity. Like bugging me was going to make it any better?

"Jake, hey."

My irritation disappeared in a heartbeat and I took a sip of my juice before setting it down. "Hey, Bells. You're up early. Was Sam calling you, too?"

"No, but Embry told me, you know, about Cassi. The chick is annoying but she is your imprint and I want to help."

I scrubbed at my face with my hand, my eyes flashing to the analog clock that hung on the wall next to the refrigerator. "Help? How, Bells? She – she left me." The pain of that made my chest ache for reals and I closed my eyes and rubbed at the center bone over my heart.

I heard my best friend sigh over the phone. "I know she did, Jake. I know, but I know how to find her. I've got connections."

"Who the hell do you know that knows _models_, Bells?" The whole high fashion mess and Bella Swan – Bella _Call_ – were completely opposite.

"Alice Cullen, that's who. I've already called her and –"

I pushed myself into the middle of the kitchen, my exhaustion gone. "_Oh no_. No _freaking_ way are you getting those leeches involved with _my_ _imprint_. I don't want them anywhere near Cassi, do you hear me?"

"Do you hear yourself, Jake? Alice knows Cassi. Well, knows a lot about her, anyway. And – oh, she's calling me back. Gotta go."

The dial tone hit my ear and I ripped the phone out of the wall, I was so furious.

"What the hell, Jake!" Dad spun around and barreled into the kitchen, his face craggy in his own anger. "I'm not buying the next phone. You do it. Damn it boy, you've been phasing long enough to get a handle on this."

He was right and I ground my teeth together, flexing my fingers as I got control of my temper. "I won't have a bloodsucker anywhere near Cassi."

Dad's eyebrows shot up. "What?"

I filled him in on what Bella had told me about Alice Leech Cullen. Dad's face hardened. "We can send the pack to protect your imprint when you find where she is. You know she's one of us now, even if she hasn't accepted the bond in the closest tie."

I could imagine how it would look, Cassi surrounded by my brothers, facing off against the pale Cullens. It was summer, so Alaska would have sunshine most of the day and the vamps would be sparkling like a bunch of Barbie dolls covered in glitter. "If they threaten her, I'll call Sam."

"All right. Now eat. You have to go buy us a new phone this morning before you go anywhere." His good humor restored, apparently, Billy wheeled back to his room. "You might want to get that phone fixed sooner rather than later, son. If Alice Cullen does know where Cassi is, you need to know too. I don't need a crazy wolf in the kitchen." His door closed with a kind of sharp authority I recognized.

I still had time. I did. I used it to do my laundry, because I would have to use that makeshift carry-on bag that I strapped to myself after my California vacation to do any running to Alaska. I didn't have the resources for another plane fare, so I figured I'd take the run on foot. On paw? Yeah, whatever.

There was a way-too-loud banging on my window – my window! – as I was getting my clothes out of the dryer. What the hell was that? I ducked out of the laundry room – not much of a room, but big enough for a washer and dryer anyway, and the linoleum wasn't peeling too badly – and called, "Go away," in a regular conversational tone. Had to be one of my brothers out there. Anyone else would have come to the door like a civilized person.

Okay. Maybe not Leah. But she was in the Pack now, too, so I guess she was allowed to bang on the window. I was briefly distracted as I piled the rest of my clothes on top of the washer. No basket; I was just going to carry them back in my arms. Leah. Charlie Swan knew about us now, since she'd told him he was her imprint.

I had seen in the whole werewolf _mindmeld_ how Leah telling Charlie had played out at Embry's. Bella had been great, of course. She never got weirded out by us. Embry was one lucky dog for real. Bella got it, worked hard at being there for him and had told her dad everything, too, over the last couple of days. Billy told me yesterday morning that Charlie would be coming over today. Investigating or something.

I didn't blame him. At least _Charlie_ was being nice to Leah, by making sure they met up every day. He was like Bella, that way.

Cassi was selfish. I got that she had a career; I really did. But she could have – "Hell. How would she know? She's never seen what it's like. And I tried to tell her... But I guess I didn't try hard enough," I muttered to myself as I scooped the hot, dry clothes in my arms.

A fist banged on the window again. "Jake!"

"Bells?" I called, making a quick jog back to my room, dumping my clothes on the bed and throwing open the window. "What are you doing here so early?" She wore a hoodie against the rain, and there wasn't a baby in sight. "Where're the kids?"

Bella laughed a little. "Would you believe with Leah?"

Stunned, I reached out to half-lift her into my room. "Embry?"

"Working at Dowlings. Look. I'm here so early because _someone's_ not answering his stupid phone." She pushed past me and rolled her eyes at the clothes on my bed. "Do you have any coffee? I have news for you."

"Cassi?" I froze, feeling like even my heart would stop if the news wasn't something I could handle.

Bella left my bedroom and I followed her like a dog on a leash. I was an idiot, but nothing mattered but not losing my imprint. Oh, and my _mind_. Bella had a gleam in her brown eyes that I knew very well, thank you very much. "Spill, Bells. Come on."

She almost stumbled when she saw the hole in the wall. "Jake? What'd you do to your phone?"

"Well, hell, Bella. You made me mad. I, uh, rippeditoutofthewall," I finished in a rush, feeling stupid all of a sudden.

My best friend just stared at me, her mouth hanging open and eyes wide. "You're an idiot."

"Yeah, I know."

With a dismissive expression of her hands and toss of her head, she evidently moved on. "Coffee?"

I remembered I was mad at her and hopped so that I was between her and the ancient Mr. Coffee on the counter top. "Not 'til you spill."

"I have to say, Jake, your manners leave a lot to be desired. No wonder she –"

I slammed my hand down on the counter. "Don't go there. Just tell me." I twisted to check that damned clock. "I might have twelve hours to find her before I lose my brain like your husband did."

"Or you might have five days. Relax, Jake. I've got it. Now get out of my way so I can make the coffee, if you won't."

"Where's yours?" I asked, scooting reluctantly out of her way to sit at the kitchen table, my legs stretching halfway between us.

"I'm a nursing mommy, remember? I don't get coffee." She rolled her eyes. "And normally, you know, I try to follow Sue's recommended diet and all that, but between Embry last night and the babies this morning and then figuring out what to do to help _you_, I'm beat."

I didn't even want to ask what the _Embry_ part of that was all about. I had more than enough images of those two in my head....! I shuddered. But then, I smiled at Bella's back as she poured the water into the coffee maker. It was such a relief – still – to not feel all weird and wrong about her. When I heard the machine make those whistling-burping sounds it did when it was brewing coffee, I rapped lightly on the table. "So? Did your bloodsucker friend have some information?"

Bella slammed down the heavy ceramic mug she had taken from the cupboard. "Damn it, Jake! Stop being such a prejudiced ass! Alice doesn't have to help you, you know. She's a woman and she's beautiful and brilliant and one of my dearest friends on Earth. Now stop it or I'll take my information and leave and save it until I hear you howling!"

"All right!" I growled, swallowing my resentment at her threat. I didn't believe she'd do it, not for a minute, not my Bells, but I didn't want to test it. Or test my friendship with her or with Embry. He'd support her if that's what made her happy. It sucked, but it was life. "Fine. So did your friend, the ever-youthful Alice Cullen, have some information?" I'd use the words, if that's what she needed, even if I coated them in obnoxious sarcasm.

See, this is why Bella is still my best friend, even if we snap at each other and threaten psychological harm. She lifted one eyebrow at me and gave me the stink eye for a second, but then relaxed and went rummaging in the fridge for some milk. "Thank you. Yes. Alice knew the agency Cassi works for and it took her next to no time to find out where Cassi is. Cassi's modeling for a Nordstrom catalog up there. Alaskan cruise ship or something? Anyway. I've got the ship she's on and the dates she'll be on the water."

"On the water?"

"Yeah, here," she said, pulling a limp piece of paper out of the pocket of her hoodie. "This is the name of the ship and its sailing dates."

"_Her_ dates."

"Yeah, Cassi's..." Bella said slowly, looking at me if she thought I'd go all crazy wolf right then.

I chuckled and inhaled deeply as a band of pressure eased up inside of me with the knowledge of Cassi's probably whereabouts. "She as in the ship, Bells. Ships are always feminine."

"Fine. So _she_ is on _her_ and _they're_ sailing. The ports of call are at that website," Bella went on, crossing to point out the cruise line's website. "Alice couldn't tell anything else, because apparently she can't see Cassi when Cassi's with you." Bella's smirk was tired around the edges, but I could see the sincerity in her eyes.

Warm and an almost laughing relief tickled my face. "When Cassi's with me...." When, not _if. When_. "Are you sure?"

Bella gave me the lightest noogie on my head. "Yep.

* * *

I started measuring my sanity by a calendar. I kept one with the watch in my carry-on bag, which was strapped around my midsection as I ran. I stayed in my wolf form for days and ran north. I was never alone. We in the pack were able to keep in touch for hundreds of miles and one or another of my brothers was always phased so that they could make sure I wasn't losing it.

How many days had I been away from her? Four.

_You know, I'm not real fond of Canada_, Jared informed me through our link. _Kim's parents weren't keen on her coming along with me out of the country. This sucks_. His imagination went to how he and his imprint had said goodbye before I got out of pack range. Jared, who was in the Yukon region, then relayed information from Sam, who was in British Columbia, Canada. _ Sam says he hopes you find her soon. How far are you from Anchorage?_

_I'll be there within the hour, I think_, I thought with a sigh. _I'm getting tired of being furry. I feel like I need a shave. And I hate hunting like this. Look. I can see it now. I'm gonna phase back and go find her. I've got Bella's cell phone with me, so you guys can quit babysitting me_.

Jared'd mental tone was, briefly, totally sympathetic. _You have to find her. I remember Sam being away from Emily, that one time. You've lasted as long as he did. And you're doing good, Jake. You are. But we're all worried for you. Honest, I don't know how those guys handled it. I would've been killing people if I'd gone nuts like they did._

I snorted. _ I know it. Good thing Kim's been in love with you forever. Shut up and let me go, Jared. I'll call. Embry programmed Bella's phone with your numbers. We're good._

_Good luck, Jake._

_Thanks. And thank Sam and the guys for me, too. I'll be in touch._ I took a huge breath and hunkered down to find my own skin again. Days, I'd lived like a wolf. I had had to. I needed to cover almost two thousand miles in a short period of time and the best way to do that was in my fur.

But I had been days without my imprint, now, and I could feel my concentration starting to fray.

"Cassi, I sure as hell hope you're where you're supposed to be," I muttered as I stepped out of the now-too-large straps on my "luggage" and went rummaging for my watch. I was dressed and eating a few strips of beef jerky when Bella's cell phone rang.

"Jacob?"

I got a chill all over my body, because the voice sounded way too musical to be anyone on the Rez. "Yeah?"

"Oh good! It's me, Alice Cullen. I'm so glad I caught you!"


	9. Chapter 9: Are You For Real?

**A/N: I know that Cassi hasn't been everyone's favorite chick -- though many of you have enjoyed her backbone! Here, I hope she redeems herself somewhat.**

**Thank you for the adds and alerts and most especially for the reviews and PMs. You are wonderful folks!**

**We left Jake on the phone with Alice Cullen...**

* * *

**Chapter 9: Are you for real?**

I growled into Bella's phone. "I am so not in the mood to deal with you, bloodsucker," I ground out. Hell, Bella wasn't here to object to the _nickname_ and I didn't think the vampire would, either. "What do you want?"

"She's going to be in Whittier! I've already made reservations for you at the Inn at Whittier, on Prince William Sound. Now, I know I can't see you, but I can see her in an hour but not later today. So that must mean you'll be with her." Alice Cullen's voice came through powerfully on the tiny speaker in Bella's phone and my ears tried to twitch in protest, but they weren't as flexible as my wolf-ears, so they just ached, instead. "Now don't even think about not listening to me, Wolf boy. We're both working against our natural prejudices, here. I'm only doing this because Bella says it's important. She thinks you're important, and I can help her and so I am. If you ignore me, you're ignoring her, so whatever you're thinking – stop it. Just listen and do what I tell you."

I growled and she laughed and that was kind of _that_. "It really sucks that you're a psychic, you know that?"

"It really sucks that it doesn't work on you, you know _that_?" And then, she giggled again and said, "Sucks! You said _sucks_ to a vampire!"

I ran one hand over my head as I fought a smile. I gave up with a suddenness that surprised me. "You know, leech, if you were an actual _human_ I think I'd like you."

"And if your species didn't stink, I'd like you too. Now, listen."

Following the little psychic's directions, I wound up bypassing Anchorage. This took some doing, but I made it to the tiny – and I mean "blink and you'll miss it" tiny – town of Whittier.

Whittier is on the edge of Prince William Sound, bordered by the water on one side and the forest and mountains on the other. The landscape was cool and green and beautiful. The Inn, where Alice Cullen informed me my imprint would be later that same day, was really expensive-looking. Classy, you know? It was the kind of place I knew instinctively that Cassi Uley would enjoy.

And she would be there before sundown.

Emerging from the forests and the different scents of the unfamiliar pines and the less acidic edge of the soil, I checked my clothes. A knit shirt with a sharp collar and a pair of jeans had traveled well from La Push in my converted backpack. The straps and all had been rolled up and tucked inside the pack, so that I looked like a hiker who'd been on the road for a while. I probably smelled like it, too. I totally needed a shower. Leah griped about how we stank when we'd been on a chase or an extended patrol and she wasn't lying. We knew it, but it took a girl to make us think of it. I heard the waves lapping softly at the rocky shore and the voices of families inside the Inn. It was getting close to supper time and my stomach rumbled – the aromas were incredible. Roasted fish was something I was far too used to, but I could also smell a pork loin and my mouth watered.

I ignored the looks I got from the uniformed staff as I entered and crossed the foyer. I had my ID in my pocket and that was all I would need, according to that pesky vampire.

Being a werewolf came in handy; I towered over the guy at the desk. "I'm Jacob Black," I told him before he had a chance to try to talk down his narrow nose at me. I could see the _go away_ look in his eye. "I have a reservation." I had at least ten inches on him, so I just stared him down until he coughed and checked his reservation list on the computer.

"Just a moment," the man said, his face turning a little red. Irritation hit me with sudden strength and I felt my fingers twitch while I waited at the redwood desk for Mr. Narrow Nose to get his head out of his ass and get me my room key. "Oh, yes, Mr. Black. Your suite has been reserved." I just kept staring at him, feeling my skin itch and my muscles ripple.

Panic started jumping in the back of my brain. Would this be where I lost it, I wondered? Right there in front of this jerk at the desk? I ground my teeth together and gripped my backpack more tightly. _Must not phase. Must not phase. Must not phase_.

I took the electronic key card and heard the directions to my second-floor room with only a nod. I couldn't phase here. Where was Cassi? How long until sundown in _Alaska_, for Pete's sake? My brain kept tight control over the rest of me as I tried very hard not to pelt up the stairs like a wild animal.

I was _tame_. Mostly. And the wide spiral of the wooden staircase would have been a terrific place to phase. Oh, hell yes. I managed not to snort too loudly as I reached the upper floor.

The room, when I reached it, was surprising to me. Not really busy in terms of stuff on the walls or anything, the furniture looked plain, but solid. There were shades but no curtains at the windows and the ceiling was really high. The view of the ocean was what I seemed to crave; my whole body relaxed when I reached the window and pressed my fingertips to the cool glass. I was still edgy, but it wasn't as urgent. Not as _desperate_ a feeling.

I inhaled deeply and smelled furniture polish and laundry detergent. Sheets. Crap. I turned and saw the bed and its enormous pillows and blue bedspread for the first time. "Now that is a bed," I muttered, impressed and suddenly wanting my imprint with my entire body. As a werewolf, I knew I ran an almost perpetual fever, but damn, I was _hot_ all of a sudden. H. O. T.

The need for Cassi pulsed through me and I decided to skip a shower and try to get in touch with Sam. I needed to talk to him. To talk to my Alpha and get him to help me through this. I tossed my backpack on the bench that sat at the foot of the king size bed and rummaged in it until I found Bella's cell phone. The battery needed charging. "Damn it!" I swore. A lot. Plugged the stupid thing in and tried like hell to keep it together. How much longer would my inner wolf keep his sanity?

A cold shower. I could do that. My thoughts grew choppy and my focus narrowed, as if I were running through the forest, I could see what was in front of me – the rest of the world was a blur. Strip. Wash. Dry. Dress. Call Sam. Everything else was peripheral as I unplugged the phone and moved to stand by the window, waiting to see a cruise ship appear on the horizon.

"Bella?"

I took a deep breath. Sam's voice helped, it really did. I felt stupid, but there it was. "Jake. I've got her phone."

"Right, yeah. Hey. Are you doing all right? Keeping it together? Where are you? You know, just in case?"

I leaned my forehead against the glass. "I'm all right for now. Staying in Whittier. Bella's friend the psychic leech called me." I filled him in and finished by saying, "So I'm just waiting here."

"You've lasted longer than any of us, Jake. Are you all right?"

I blew out a huge breath and tried to just center myself. "Right now I am, yeah. I'm kind of scared to leave the room to look for her, though," I confessed, embarrassed.

The Alpha made some sort of sound on his end. I'm not even sure I was supposed to hear it. "Well, do the best you can, Jake. I can call one of the guys if you need me to. Jared, maybe, to get up to see you."

"He'll be needing to see Kim though. I can't keep him from her."

Sam swore and I heard him loud and clear. "Right. Okay. Well if anything goes wrong, Jacob, just head for the woods, all right? Clear out and disappear."

I could imagine that happening and winced, lifting my eyes and wishing I'd see a cruise ship. _Cassi..._ "I will, Sam."

"And Jake?"

"What?"

"Take good care of my sister."

I plugged the phone back in, my energy high after my conversation with Sam. High and tense and nervous, like I was getting ready for a final exam, a job interview and a marriage proposal all in one. Her name became all I could think coherently. All I could murmur to keep my body in its original shape. "Cassi. Cassi. Cassi Uley."

I paced, directing my energy to the floor while I clenched and unclenched my fist. Then, I saw a huge ship. That's what I had been waiting for! Alice had said they'd come off the ship and to the Inn, so I knew my wait was just about over. I closed my eyes and could imagine her face, remember her scent, the feel of her skin, the taste of her kiss. I could remember all of it and the memories were helpful, as my body tried to rip itself apart. "Cassi," I whispered.

Soon. Soon. I kept repeating the idea and her name and cycling through my memories of her. Everything would have worked out great I'm sure if I didn't have to breathe.

But I did. And all my senses went into alert. I smelled two Cold Ones outside my hotel room. I didn't think. Didn't call out. My whole body, on edge anyway and waiting for my imprint, didn't do anything but react.

Gone were my jeans and shirt. Their remnants now decorated the bed and floor and chair on the far wall. I growled, low and deep in my chest, my mind thinking only that I had to protect Cassi. _Cassi. Cassi!!! _ I prowled, pacing on all fours in the confined space, just waiting for the bloodsuckers to try something.

A low, musical voice spoke softly, swearing. Then, "Alice? I think we're too late."

"No! I'll get a key. You just – just keep him calm."

Instantly, I felt something fall on me. Like a blanket. Like good food. It had nothing to do with my mind at all, but my body couldn't shake it off and I sank down to the floor, my head on my forelegs. I growled again, trying to tell the leech to leave, but I sounded...

Ah, hell, I sounded like a _hungry puppy_ and that just made me mad.

I strove to get past that. Made myself get off the floor where that calming blanket tried to keep me. Just in time to hear the card in the keycard reader on the door. "Jacob? It's Alice Cullen and Jasper. Now, just stop. She'll be here really soon. Hold on, okay?"

My mind was gone by then. I could only see my enemies and only _think_ of Cassi Uley. _Cassi! Cassi!_ I pushed up, even under that drug-like calm the blond leech had thrown at me.

"Jacob Black!" The black-haired vampire said, her voice high and her speech rapid. The sun was setting behind me and its rays bounced off her skin and the skin of her mate with diamond brilliance that made me wince. "Stop it! You can't be like this here! What's the matter with you?"

I couldn't answer. I could only loom over her and growl.

Until I landed on my back, with her mate standing over me. "You keep that muzzle of yours over here, dog," he directed me. "Now, my Alice has gone to a great deal of trouble for you and I expect you to be appreciative."

"I better go get her," the little sparkling leech said, her brow furrowed as the tall scarred one pushed her behind his back.

"Make it fast. I don't know how long this'll work on a werewolf and I'd hate to tear his legs off. Bella wouldn't appreciate that."

"No kidding!" Alice Cullen then said, "Jacob, I'll go get Cassi Uley and bring her here. Just hang on, all right? Bella _so_ owes us."

Cassi! I tried to howl for my mate, to tell her to stay away even though I hadn't seen her in days. _Danger! Danger! _I knew it and she couldn't be here... But my jaw wouldn't open and I could only whine through my teeth as a huge wave of exhaustion overcame me.

* * *

"Jake? Jake? Hey, it's me, Jake. Are you all right?"

Cassi! My eyes flew open and I jerked myself off the floor in a heartbeat. Her! Her scent was all around me, her voice was in my ears and her hands... I nudged her with my nose and inhaled...

Cold Ones! Before I could think, I insinuated my body between my imprint and the leeches, my fur bristling. I growled low in my chest as my mind settled and my memory grew more clear. Alice Cullen and her mate, the one who messed with me. I growled at him. I didn't trust him; he was covered in scars that my sharp eyes saw very clearly. Danger screamed at me from his skin and I took a step closer to him, amping my growl up to make sure he knew to back the hell off and away from Cassi.

The small one held out her hands as if to calm me down. I'd had enough of that! "Jacob! It's me, Alice, remember? I brought her like I said. So be nice to Jasper. Can't you come out of all that fur now? You really stink."

So did she! I refused to phase human though; I didn't want to leave Cassi vulnerable. I shook my head wolf-fashion and indicated the door with a quick jerk of my muzzle. It should have been clear to anyone. But these bloodsuckers refused to leave!

"Jacob," the male said, "you look like you're doing fine, now, but I have to protect my mate, too, right?" He eyed me sternly and pushed Alice behind him again.

"Look, I'm new to all this wolf and vamp stuff, but even_ I_ know Jacob wants you to leave, so get out, why don't you?" Cassi pushed me aside with both hands and came to stand in front of me, shocking my hackles all the way down as she took on the vampires in the room. When they didn't leave immediately, she moved toward them, beyond the protection I could give her with my teeth, to confront the tall blond male. "Go on. He's fine, like you said. I'm his mate. I'll take care of him." She inclined her head and stood, every inch a professional model, and looked all the way down her nose at Alice. "Thank you for finding me and bringing me to him. I think I can handle it from here."

My pride in her was endless. I felt my jaw hang open as I stared at her. I saw Alice's jaw drop too, before she laughed with a high, delighted peal of sound.

"Bella will be so pleased! I'll call her house, Jacob Black, and tell her you're okay. Jazz? I think we're good, here."

Jasper cocked his head and seemed to evaluate me as well as Cassi. Then, he broke out in a broad smile. "All right, then. Have a good evening, you two." He mimed lifting a non-existent hat from his head as he smiled at Cassi and I growled more loudly. Stupid dramatic vampire.

Cassi snorted and turned the full weight of her model's glare at him. "Good night."

The door closed behind the departing bloodsuckers and I felt every muscle in my body relax all at once. Cassi leapt to the door and put the security bolt into play before turning and facing me.

"Well? You're going to stay in that fur coat all night? I'd rather go naked than wear fur," she quipped, her fingers making quotation marks and her lips tilting in a smile. "Please?" she added, still leaning against the door to the corridor. "It's really hard for me to talk to you when you're like this."

She wanted to talk to me! She'd called me her _mate_! I remembered _that_ all of a sudden and I felt a wash of sheer need for her as I darted a look around the room for a pair of shorts. I was too big to fit on the other side of the bed and I sure as hell didn't want to risk being right next to a window like this.

Her laugh was as unexpected as it was beautiful. She shook her head. "I've seen the goods, Jake. Go ahead and find your usual, um, skin and I'll find you something to cover up with, huh?" I heard her mutter, "Sure, I'm his mate and now I'm trying to find his underwear. It figures. Men."

I chuffed a laugh at her before I knelt to collect myself and phase human. Once in my own skin, I stood, feeling both self-conscious and also kind of smug. It was stupid, but when I caught her ogling me, cheeks flushed and heart rushing in her breast, I forgot feeling self-conscious and just crossed the room to grab the pair of boxers she had found in my backpack. I kept eye contact with her as I pulled them over my feet and up.

"Cassi," I whispered. Her name. It was the first thing out of my mouth. It had been the last word I'd said before I'd mostly lost my mind, too. "You're here."

"Yeah. And so are you! What the hell is going on, Jacob Black?" She moved to climb on the bed, her legs – bare under a pair of longish shorts that I am sure she had a name for – folded under her. "I was working, you know? And then this tiny chick shows up, tells me she's with Cullen Creative Consulting, tosses this card and a few bills at the Nordstrom art director and whisks me away to this place." Her tone was hard, but her eyes – a beautiful brown that drew me in and held me close – were serious and concerned.

"She was helping. I – I was losing it, Cassi. I – I needed to see you. You read the book and talked to Emily and Bella, right? I wouldn't do this to annoy you, honest. If I stayed back at the Rez, I might be running in circles by now, howling. That's what happened to Sam and Embry. I had to do whatever I could to find you."

"I get that. I do, Jake." I felt a stupid smile on my face. She was calling me _Jake_ again. She thumped the bed next to her. "So, I guess we should talk?"

I sat where she indicated and closed my eyes to breathe her in, my hand sliding to take hers. It wasn't something I thought about – I just had to touch her. "Yeah. Look. I know this isn't what you planned for and everything. I know that. I don't want you to quit what you're doing, either. You have plans and I respect that," I said, the words rushing out as I opened my eyes and studied her face. The rich tints of her hair, the faint russet tones under her skin, the deep hue of her lips. She was perfect. Absolutely. A goddess. "But I need to be near you," I rasped, my insanity running behind my eyes as I remembered what had happened. "I don't mean to intrude or anything. I'll just find a job wherever you are. So long as I can see you, Cassi. Touch you," I added, bringing her hand to my face to kiss it before letting it go. "I can handle it until we decide what to do. I can be your friend if that's all you want. I can. It'll work that way, too. We think it just takes a while –"

Disbelief and even sad surprise flared in her eyes. "What? I thought we were, like, mystic mates, remember? What do you mean you'll just be friends?"

Okay. I was totally confused. "Cassi. I just want you to be happy. That's all. And if I can stick around, I can be for you whatever you want me to be."

"I never said I didn't want that _forever_, Jake," she murmured turning a little to face me more fully. "I mean, not that I meant, anyway. Hell, you guys all freaked me out, you know? I went there to yell at my brothers only to find out I really needed to yell at my dad for leaving them and then I find out this complete stranger thinks I'm his _mate_..." She pushed her hair back, seeming much more like an average eighteen-year-old girl than a model. "And not only that, but apparently the guy is stuck on me because of this thing called a _mating imperative_, which means he wants me to have his children and I'm not _even_ ready for that."

My heart clenched and I winced. "I know, and I'm –"

She cut me off with one finger on my lips. I couldn't help myself; I kissed it. When she swallowed and gasped, I drew that finger gently into my mouth and caressed it with my tongue.

I'd never seen a girl melt so totally before and my inner wolf howled in pleasure as Cassi drew me down with her to lay back on the bed. I kept her eyes with mine as I kissed her slowly up one arm, paying attention to the small, incredible sounds she made as I grazed her inner elbow and that soft, soft skin. Up her biceps to where her red sleeveless top met her shoulder.

"Kiss me, Jacob," she whispered.

"I'm getting there."

"Well hurry up! I've missed you, too."

Her admission surprised me and I pulled away a little to study her face again. "Cassi?"

"What, I can't change my mind?"

"But, I thought –"

She shut me up again. "I know. And I know it's way too soon and I should tell you I'll see you at Christmas or something, but – but I can't, Jake. I have a job to do here and then I'm going back to California. Dad left me the house in Cerritos."

Dread sifted through me, starting at my head and working its way down. Like a fine powder, it settled over my skin and worked its way inside, chilling me in a way that I thought would be impossible. "Cassi..." I didn't know what to say. I couldn't say anything more to convince her; she'd seen me lying on the floor in my fur, she had read the book, I had told her I wanted her. What else was there?

"Jake. Wait, okay? Are you, like, allowed to ever leave the Reservation? I mean...I know that's your home and there are the legends and you are obviously one of those protectors I read about in that book. I get that. But can you leave?"

"I'm here, right?" I countered, feeling uncomfortable in part of my mind, but hopeful everywhere else. "I can go wherever you need me to go."

"For how long?" Her whisper touched on the dread, blowing it away as she inched closer to me. I was surrounded by her unique scent of cinnamon and vanilla and woman. My heart jumped. "How long can you stay?"

It was instinct that had me wrapping my arms around her and pulling her to lie on my body. "As long as I live, Cassi." It was my promise to her and it felt totally natural to make it there on the bed, thousands of miles from my home. I didn't know why, but it did. I pushed her hair back, out from between us and over her shoulder. "As long as you want me."

"But I thought –"

It was my turn to stop her words. "The imprint is the most important bond, Cassi. It outranks the pack and the tribe and the Rez. If you want me... I'll be where you are."

She inhaled sharply. "It's too soon..." She said the words, but her voice was throbbing and I felt her longing in my gut. "I don't understand."

"You need time, I know. I can give it to you." I could give her anything. Time. Relocation. Passion. "If you let me."

"Okay." Her face softened, her lips parted and vulnerable above my own. "I really missed you, you know. I've been thinking about you ever since I left. I was mad, you know, and then I was irritated at myself because I started worrying about you." I tried to quiet her – she didn't have to explain herself to me. She frowned at me and kept going. "I'd remember things... Things that shouldn't have been so important, since I hardly know you. Things like how your voice hit me in my heart. Things like how I felt when I heard you'd been watching over me. Imagining... Well, never mind."

I chuckled softly and brushed her cheek with the back of my finger. "No, wait, I want to get back to that one."

"Maybe later. Thing is...I don't know how you did it, but you – you _get_ me. You make me feel... You make me feel whole, Jacob. I still miss my dad, all the time, but it was easier with you. When you were with me."

"I'll always be here, Cassi."

"Okay," she said again. And then she lowered her head and kissed me.

* * *

Later, she had to report back to the art director and I had to get us something to eat. When she came back, she snapped at me about shredding my jeans and I told her she was being a brat and she could try finding a store that carried pants for a guy closer to seven feet tall than six.

She didn't like what I ordered for dinner. I ate hers and mine and told her to get something else.

I didn't like her attitude toward the kid who brought her a new dinner and I told her so.

She had to work the next day, but – thanks to Alice Cullen – I got to stay with her, on the edges of her day. Watching her sit and be groomed and dressed and posed. Watching her listen and obey the photographer – shocking! Watching her smile and giggle, even with the others in the group.

I loved her. I knew that. And I even realized I _liked_ her, before she boarded that cruise ship and sailed off again.

"Three days," she whispered to me at the harbor, where a smallish boat was waiting to take her and a few other girls back to the ship. "I'll be flying down to Seattle in three days."

I wrapped her in my arms, ignoring the mutterings from the others, and buried my nose in her hair. Her embrace was tight and she squeezed me hard enough that even I felt it. "All right," I whispered. I'll be there."

"Thank you. It's – it's good to have someone. Again."

A sharp voice called, "Cassi! Get yourself in this boat right now. The ship has a tight schedule!"

"Coming!" she called over her shoulder. I let her go and she smiled as she cupped my face in her hands. "Take care of yourself and no shredding any more clothes. At least not until I can watch, okay?"

I was still laughing as she stepped into the boat and sailed away.

* * *

**A/N: Next and final chapter… We'll get Cassi's point of view on all of this. Finally. Hers will be the final voice in the Mating Imperative series, though, so it may be a while before it posts.**

**Thank you all so much for reading! ~LJ**


	10. Chapter 10: It Was Just a Phase

**A/N: Set approximately 14-15 years after Sickness and Health, 17 yrs after most of the Mating Imperative stories.**

**Name pronunciations: Hennah = HEN ah Hemeh = HEM eh Hantay = h'EN t'AY**

**Thanks for waiting for Cassi. I know it's been a while. See you down below! ~LJ**

**

* * *

**

**Chapter 10: It Was Just a Phase**

**Cassi's POV**

My mother's light blue eyes stared at me on the computer screen and I sighed. I hadn't really cried for her in years, but I still missed her. Diana Uley. Her dad, my grandfather, was a Classics professor at California State University, Long Beach. He named Mom after the goddess Diana of the Hunt and she named me after the prophetess whom no one listened to. Go figure.

And there was Dad. Tears did heat my eyes when I saw his familiar face. _I miss you, Daddy. Even if you couldn't find it in you tell me everything until you were almost gone, I miss you..._

_"Find them. Samuel Aaron Uley. Embry Call. His mother was Laura. They live in La Push, Washington, honey. Take my firebox to show them if they need proof. It's got all the birth certificates."_

I hadn't needed proof. Just seeing me and Dad's pictures had been enough.

A flicker of my fingertip took me to where I wanted to be. A photographic slideshow. I just had to find a picture. As I grazed over the different thumbnail-sized images that represented the larger, more detailed pictures, I had to smile. There was one of Jake and me in Seattle, the week after he had tracked me down when I was on the Nordstrom shoot. It was, in my mind, when we got together.

I didn't have any pics of the shoot with him; the art director was irritated enough with me at that point. But I didn't need photographic evidence to remember everything about that afternoon. From the moment when Alice Cullen appeared before me to the time I was sprawled on top of Jake on the bed in his room, the memories are crystal clear.

I remembered how I had been so conflicted in between stints in front of the camera. And when the photographer had wanted all of us to imagine the hottest guy ever so we would have a certain expression on our faces, my imagination flew to Jacob Black. And the photographer said I looked "amazing."

I shrugged it off, because I was still freaking out about Jake. _What the hell?_ I kept thinking. _Dad says to find my half brothers and I find some guy who wants me to be his freaking wife? Who does that? Who goes wife-shopping when they're seven-freaking-teen? Not this girl. _

The shoot had been good, and I'd felt that I had done the right thing by showing Jake Eight-Pack Black that I had a life and ambitions and that I wasn't going to fall for him just because he said I was his mystic mate. I worried about him – quietly, in the back of my mind. Worried about what he had told me about his sanity.

I wondered if he was all right, down there in Washington. What if it was real and he lost his mind because of me? I mean, I was all for men losing their _heads_ over me, but not losing their _minds_!

We made a port of call at a tiny town called Whittier, Alaska. I took the smaller craft in with the rest of the girls from the agency and was all set to get started in the cloud-covered natural lighting in the fishing village. From out of nowhere, this tiny woman with pale skin and wild hair – dressed in something so perfect for her that I was in awe – showed up and threw her card and some cash at the art director.

"Cassi? Ms. Cullen is borrowing you for a consultation up at the Inn." No point in protesting, not if I was being directed that way by the boss of the shoot really, so I went with her.

And damn if I didn't find out that she was colder than a rock and that she knew Jacob. All the legends dropped on my head at once. Which was bad enough, but my Jacob –

It was right then that I referred to him as _mine_, in my head. He was mine. My werewolf as my newly-discovered sister-in-law had written. Mine. And he was in his wolf form because of the Cold Ones.

I wanted them gone and I wanted them gone immediately and I told them so. And they left! And then it was just me and Jake and his underwear. I didn't know, then, that I'd be spending the next twenty years looking for his underwear!

We talked and he promised me everything I needed him to promise, and though I didn't know how much to believe, there in that hotel room. All I knew was that I wanted to try. I had to try. He had gone all wolf-crazy without me and that broke my heart.

Leaving him that day had been harder than I thought it would be.

When I got off the plane in Seattle, I remember him standing there, a grin as bright as the sun lighting his features. Beautiful. He was perfectly beautiful. I could have had fifty jobs lined up for him in a matter of a week, with the right set of headshots and a couple of full-body layouts. I imagined, as I made my way to him through the security gates, what kinds of ensembles would best suit him.

I had an entire wardrobe designed before I wrapped my arms around his hot torso and pressed myself shamelessly against him. I had to let all those wide-eyed girls in the terminal know what was what.

Jealous? Me? Damned straight I was. I knew I was supposed to be his imprint, but he was only human and I had been the worst imprint in the world to that point.

That changed as much as I could make it change, right then. You could see it in this picture. Jake saw it, my brothers saw it.

My brothers...

From being an orphan alone in the world to having two brothers, sisters-in-law, a niece and nephew and then a werewolf of my very own, no wonder I was so messed up back then.

"Cassi? Hon? You back there?"

Jake's voice called me from my reverie and I clicked on a couple of pictures to print them before answering. "I'm here, Jake. Everything all right?"

He had just emerged from the shower, his hair spiked damply around his head, navy blue towel slung about his hips. I licked my lips and grinned at him, my eyes traveling from the defined V just above the towel, over his stunning eight-pack, heated pectorals and corded throat to the smirk on his full lips.

The smirk spread into a white grin. "Everything in order, Mrs. Black? Like what ya see?"

"Oh yes," I assured him over the clacking of the printer. "You haven't lost a thing, baby."

He grimaced, then. "You're older than I am, you know."

"And?" I slid my forefinger slowly between his towel and the already-dry skin hiding beneath. "I've always been older." I could hear the children's pounding footsteps in the upstairs playroom and, reluctantly, quit teasing my werewolf.

With a thoughtful sound under his breath, he gently encompassed my shoulders in his hands before rubbing my arms slowly, skin on skin, from the tip of the tank top to the indent of my wrist. "I've been Alpha for a dozen years, now. I guess that makes me, what, thirty-two?" I nodded, lifted a brow at him. He brought my hands to his mouth and kissed my knuckles with an exaggerated smacking sound. "You're all right with everything so far? Don't mind that I look like I'm twenty-five?"

I eyed him again, raking his body with my gaze. "You doubt? Told you I loved you forever in front of witnesses and everything. In sickness and in health, as long as we both shall live," I quipped. My voice was light, but I knew that he would see my sincerity in my eyes, hear my elevated heart rate and breathing. When I had said "yes" to him years ago, I meant it. Even if he looked a lot younger than I. Even if. "See? I even have pictures," I told him, turning to slide the images from the printer.

Jake laughed out loud to see them. "Is this for –?"

"Yeah. They wanted the whole story. So I thought I'd better include this one."

He slid one picture behind the next, flipping through them with nostalgic amusement curling his lip. "The Cullens. All of 'em."

"Well I had to invite Alice and Jasper, of course," I reminded him, remembering the day I had met the Cold Ones out of legend for the first time. "And she _hinted_ that it'd be polite to invite everyone..."

"Edward," Jake said, identifying the bronze-haired vampire with a flicking of his finger.

"Bella's ex?"

"Yeah. He left her, you know. For her own good."

I had heard the story from Bella before my wedding and I nodded. "She was happy to see him. Remember when Hennah threw up on his shoes?"

The memory brought a grin to both of our faces. "He couldn't hear Hennah's thoughts, either. Bella was so happy." My niece had had an attack of nerves since she and her brother were the flower girl and ring-bearer for the wedding. Edward had been studying the four-year-old with some interest, Bella had told me. And little Hennah had lost what there had been of her breakfast on one shiny black loafer.

Jake had howled with laughter when he found out. "Yeah."

He tossed the vampire picture back so that it floated to a soft landing on the printer. The next picture was one of the Pack. Including Leah, though she hadn't phased since before her marriage to Police Chief Charlie Swan. Leah's hair was long and shining, catching the sunlight in the picture. All the guys looked content, but Leah was glowing. "She could have modeled, you know. She's gorgeous." Still was, even in her mid-thirties.

Jake tossed that picture too and cupped my face in his huge hand. "She's all right." He slid his fingertip delicately around my eye. "You're the only woman I see."

The devotion in his voice could still make me hot – hence the five children my body had somehow managed to deliver over the years! Hot, yes, but I hadn't given in to him immediately.

"Better get dressed," I reminded him. "And please, take a side trip upstairs to get the kids settled, okay? I have to get this done."

"Procrastinator!"

"That's _procrastinatrix_ to you!"

I swatted him on the butt as he turned to go and he growled playfully at me before swooping up in his powerful arms and making my head spin with an all-encompassing kiss. The man was gifted. In so many ways.

More pictures. Sarah – our elder daughter – was putting together a Project. "It's for our storytelling class, Mom," she said. A class being held in the Reservation's Cultural Education Center. A new building and programming paid for by private funding. Yeah, I knew who was funding it, but no one was telling so I kept my mouth shut.

Kept my mouth shut and found pictures of our family so Sarah could weave a story about us all for her class. How many kids on the Rez had Cold Ones as honorary family members?

I flipped through some more in my search for Sarah's project. There were pictures of pregnant Leah and her imprint, Charlie.

Ah. There was another series of pictures. Jacob's Alpha Ceremony. What a mess that had been.

"Sam's stepping down," Jake had told me, shaking himself as he moved through the Cerritos house my dad left me when he died. My werewolf/fiancé/co-habitating boyfriend announced this after he had taken an extended "run" that sent him hundreds of miles north. He and my brother – half-brother – eschewed phones and preferred to do all their testosterone male-bonding stuff long-distance by mental telepathy. It's about nine hundred miles between La Push and Cerritos, and the Pack's communication distance was about three hundred miles, meaning that both my boyfriend and my brother had to run three hundred miles in order to communicate.

"Why not use the freaking phone?" I wondered, exasperated as Jake prepared to phase and leave the first time they did this after Jake moved in with me.

He had grown very serious. "There's more to this than just words, honey. You know that. It's thoughts and ideas and everything. Besides," he went on with half a smile, "your big brother likes to know for certain that you're okay. He gets the truth of that in my head."

So when he came in and told me that Sam had stepped down, it was after he had been gone for his Pack Bonding weekend. I was up to my eyeballs in homework to finish my class at the satellite of FIDM - Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising – and was not in the best of moods. I freaked out. "What? You're Alpha? What?" My mind buzzed with the ramifications. "I can't go to the Rez now, Jacob Black. I have to finish my studies and I have a shoot next month!"

"I can't turn my back on the Pack, Cassandra!"

We literally went nose to nose. "You knew I had to finish what I started, here."

It deteriorated from there. Thing was, we had been together for about two years and Jake had committed to staying with me until I started my own clothing line and got it going. Finishing my studies at FIDM was important for that. So was making sure I kept modeling so that I could tuck money away to start up my own company. I had a business manager and a model already planned. I just needed time.

Time that had run out, according to Jake.

We fought, he flew up to La Push, and he came back with a compromise.

"I've got another eighteen months before I need to be back there. Then we'll have six months for me to ease into the Alpha role and _then_ Sam will step down."

I wanted to huff and remind him that I was his imprint, damn it, but I studied his face. His lips were firm, his eyes wary. He knew he was planning a big change for us and that I was less than thrilled. He had said that our imprinted relationship was paramount, coming even above the bonds of the pack and the ties to the Reservation. Yet he was telling me what the plan was.

I bit my tongue and went to Polyvore online to design a new ensemble for traveling. Anything to calm down. Jake hovered, but he didn't say anything else until I came out with my computer-generated wardrobe printed and in my hand.

"All right. Fine. We're going. I want you to do what you were born to do, Jacob Black."

The make-up sex went on for twenty-four hours. Emily had said, in her little guide book, that werewolves had endurance...

The ceremony two years later had been secret. But the homecoming and the pointed looks and the subtle reminders that the Council Elders had slid in my direction had not been. Then, too, they expected me to have two kids by that time – Embry and Bella had three and Sam and Emily had their sons, one year apart, and so on. Jake had to tell them it was really none of their business what his imprint did with her reproductive organs.

And he did! I got that from my sister-in-law, Bella.

"Embry was just so mad at Sue and Billy!" she had said, eye dark eyes wide with astonishment and humor. "Just so you know, he totally stood up for you and Jake. Really, Billy and Sue need to keep their noses in their own house!"

It was so invasive! The pictures even showed that as I frowned over them. We – Jake and I – were always surrounded by someone. My in-laws or the Pack or kids on the Rez...

Still, it all came with Jake so that made it worth my while. _Why on earth is that man worrying if I'm worrying about his non-aging? Every girl should be so lucky_.

"Mom! Mommy! He won't let me play on the Wii!"

"Coming!"

Before I went up to them, I set up to print the wedding party pictures and the baby pictures for each of the kids. Ephraim, Sarah and Billy, Diana and little Joshua

_And Jake looks exactly the same in each and every one. _

I glanced quickly at a mirror at the foot of the stairs. Good thing I looked pretty damned good myself. This bustline might not be able to fit into my old wardrobe, nor these hips, but I was a mature woman, not a teenager. No wrinkles, everything toned and "perky." Hell yeah. I was the Alpha's mate.

* * *

"Everything ready?"

Emily's approach when I reached the Cultural Center days later was to be expected. She and Sam, though he was no longer phasing, were both on the Council. Sue Clearwater had been, after Harry died. Sue married Billy and they led on the Tribal Council. Until Billy died while I was pregnant with his namesake. Sue had quietly retired from Rez life, having decided to live in Forks, near enough to her daughter's family.

"Yeah."

"How're you doing, since Jake hasn't stepped down?"

I paused, my thoughts racing as I considered the implication of her question. Had he had a choice? We imprints still stuck together, and though Emily hadn't technically been an imprint for a full twelve years, she was still respected as First Imprint of the Pack. "Fine," I murmured. "He did ask me this morning how I was doing. Has he been, ah, over to talk to Sam?" I wondered.

Emily darted a look around. Her face was thinner than it used to be, but her eyes still shone with the warmth she had shown me almost from our earliest acquaintance. "Yeah. Don't say anything to him, though! He might be planning a surprise."

A strange feeling slid through my middle at her words. Stepping down? Jake? So he wouldn't be Alpha anymore?

Emily regained my attention with a small motion of her hand. "Shh! Surprise, remember?"

I blinked. "But who on earth is dumb enough to take that on after him? I mean, it's hell on the family, you know? And you guys could practically do a webcast on Native American Life and Times or something, you're all so normal."

"You?" Emily's smile was slanted and her eyes flashed a bit of a challenge at me. "You aren't including yourself? C'mon, Cassi. You've been one of us since Jake first clapped eyes on you."

"I know..."

"Mom! Come on! I need help with my makeup!"

Emily and I exchanged maternal glances – something I never figured I'd be doing with her, once upon a time – and I let the Alpha issue slip from my mind.

Sarah was amazing. My eight-year-old had a real presence in front of an audience that I could see came from both me and her father. Ephraim reminded me of no one so much as my own father. Quiet, but loving and careful, even at age ten. Sarah had an ego the size of the Olympic Peninsula and I enjoyed watching her tease and beguile the members of the audience as she shared – with good facial expressions and contortions of her body and curls to her voice – the story of her family. Billy was less than year younger. He had been born prematurely right after my father-in-law, Billy, died. We were in the hospital for Billy after his heart-attack when I went into labor. Diana and Joshua were five and four, and it didn't surprise me at all that Diana looked much as my mother had, with slightly darker skin. Joshua was very much like Jacob.

This amused me more than it did either his father or either of his uncles.

After Sarah's storytelling was complete and the other children in her group had their turns to share their stories, it was time for games out of doors, to give the children a chance to learn the traditional games of the Northwestern Nations as well as to give the parents a chance to visit with one another while others took charge of the kids. Someone was grilling and I could smell the distinctive yumminess that was chicken cooked over mesquite combined with juicy watermelons. Someone shook a soda bottle and the hiss-explosion combination as it opened was enough to have me flinching before I found out the source was too far away to get me covered in sticky sweetness.

"Cassi! Hey, sis! How're ya doin'?" Embry's playful tones were welcome as he and Bella, carting the inevitable aluminum lawn chairs, came to join me. Jake was meeting with the last of the phasing males – no other females had ever phased, excepting Leah – in the woods, having left after the Storytelling. "Sarah did a great job!"

"So did Hantay," I told him truthfully. Hantay – short for Hantaywee, which was a Native word for _Faithful_ – was the youngest of the Call's three kids and she was the stand-out in that household. She looked nothing like either of her parents, but was apparently a throw-back to Bella's mom. I've met Bella's mom and she could almost pass as _Hantay's_ mom if she had to. Hantay had had the honor of being the final storyteller in the group. At age fifteen, she was graduating from the "kids' classes" and would be working more with the council and performing the legends. She might look like a white girl, but my niece has worked hard to show that her heart lies with her people here on the Rez. She spoke Quileute better than her father, even, and that's saying something.

My brother looked good, considering he had stopped phasing upon Hantay's birth. He was thirty-four in actual years, looked about twenty-nine. Bella was thirty-five and looked to be the same age as her husband. Lucky girl just had great skin, really. Not as hot as her husband, but Embry and I did come from half the same gene-pool, so it's not surprising he could still model for Jos. A. Banks or Macy's. If he wanted. Which he didn't. Which was a shame, really. I used him to model some of my men's clothing, though. Jake absolutely refused.

"Doing good, Em, thanks. Bella, did you bring the famous brownies?"

She smiled and flipped her long braid over her shoulder. "Of course. Last time I didn't, Ephraim read me the riot act."

"He loves your cooking."

"She's the best," Embry asserted, rubbing Bella's knee for a moment. Then, after exchanging a look with her and darting another one around, he leaned closer to me. "So any word on the Alpha thing?"

Later, I would reflect that I had mellowed out in the past years, because I did not rip Embry's head from his shoulders. Nor did I stomp my foot or yell. I clenched my jaw and glared at my brother. "What the hell is it with everyone, today? I've been fielding these questions all day, dammit. What isn't he telling me?"

If he could have, Embry would have blanched. Bella frowned but shook her head and the expression went away. "Cassi," she began.

"No. That's it. I'm finding my husband," I spat.

Bella sighed and, after a moment, nodded. "You know he's my best friend, Cassi. So, uh, try not to do anything too permanent, okay?"

I held her gaze with mine for ten solid seconds. That's a long time to stare, but I didn't care. Bella had never been afraid of me, though I had treated her like crap when we first met. A long time ago, she had reminded me once. She forgave easily.

I didn't.

"Jake? Jacob Black? Your wife, mate and imprint needs to see your butt – furry or not – right the hell now!" My words were actually fairly quiet as I left the group of adults and teens who were gathered on the wet playing field. Overhead, I could see blue sky and knew that the early morning rain had been it for today. The voices of the children behind me, I only heard the wind as it brushed through the trees, whispering and whistling as I waited for my husband.

I knew he heard me. His wolf-sharp hearing was reliable. Overall, my Jacob was a wonderful husband. Besides being devoted to me beyond reason, he supported my career choices and changes, was a terrific father to the kids, a good role model for a hardworking man that I hoped our sons would emulate and our daughters would hold out for in the future. He was emotional and sensitive and had learned how to communicate in a way that any woman had to appreciate.

So what the hell had he been keeping from me?

Alpha male that he was, he emerged from the trees shirtless - as usual. I didn't even have to look around to know that the younger women on the Rez still eyed him lustfully. I didn't have a thing to worry about – so I let myself enjoy the fact that this russet Olympian of a man was mine. All mine.

"Cassi," he breathed after having given me a once-over with a dark, worried expression. "The kids?"

I was fine, so he checked after our children next. I loved that he had his priorities in order. "They're great. Sarah's basking." Our little storyteller really enjoyed the attention and had been retelling her favorite parts of the story to a couple of the older Council members.

He wove his fingers through mine and we walked together. We didn't need a destination; our walk would take as long as we needed it to, I knew from experience. We didn't disappear entirely into the cool shade of the evergreens – we might be needed and the kids needed to know we were around. Instead, we stayed on the periphery of the playing field and barbecue grills and laughing groups of people. Still, I could feel certain pairs of eyes on me. Jacob was the Chief of his people. It wasn't something we dwelt on, but it was so and so eyes were on him always. Then, too, the members of the original Pack from our younger years knew something that I didn't know and they were watching. As were their spouses. The only ones missing were Leah and Charlie and their two kids. The Swans were taking a break from the Forks PD and Leah's job as a work-at-home copy-editor for a major book publisher. Their kids, aged fifteen and ten, had a bad case of wanderlust and wanted to see Grand Canyon and San Diego just for starters. It had taken some work to get Charlie out of Forks, but Leah and the kids had been very persuasive.

Jake called me back to the present. "I know you didn't call me just to take a walk, Cassi."

"Nope. I sure didn't." We continued to move, our feet kicking up loose earth and crushing grass, depending upon where we were. "What aren't you telling me?"

He didn't miss a beat. "About what?"

"Phasing?" I squeezed his fingers. It wouldn't do any good, but he'd feel some pressure, anyway. "Specifically, _you_ phasing? Something you need to tell me? Hm?" My voice was edging on the harder side of sarcasm.

My husband nodded his head the way males do when they're trying to figure out how to tell the women in their life something she's not going to like. I knew that nod. "I've been Alpha for so long to make sure the guys that do phase have someone they can talk to and all that. To teach them how to fight the leeches. Well. There aren't a lot of vamps on the Peninsula lately, hon. And not a lot of us are phasing anymore. Back in my great-grandfather's day, there was only the one generation of wolves and they stayed phasing for decades. Outliving their wives and family. As you know, we haven't wanted to do that." He paused and caught my eye, not pausing as we kept a slow walk around the perimeter of the gathering. "I'm ready to step down, Cassi," he said after a moment, directing his gaze up and off into the distance. "I want to walk through life with you. I don't want our kids getting older and me never changing. I hope that the boys never have to go through this, I really do."

When he said he was going to step down, my foot caught in the grass and I stopped abruptly, turning to face him as he finished speaking. My heart started pounding and I wasn't sure how I felt about his wish to stop phasing.

"But that means... You'd be..."

A flash lit in his dark eyes. "I'd get older? Yeah. Not be Chief anymore? Well, I'll still probably have a say and all that. Shouldn't change too much, but I might like a lesser seat on the Council, you know." I felt my mind go blank as I studied his face. He frowned a little before lifting his brows into his still unlined forehead. "Does that bother you, Cass? Me getting older?" His voice was layered with disbelief and sincerity.

"No! Not even. I mean, it's just... I've only known you like this, Jake. I've never had to worry that you'd be sick or injured or anything. I mean, I'm just human, right? I always figured that if something happened to me, you'd be here for the kids." My parents' deaths were always with me. I would always remember how it felt to lose first my mother, then my father. My skin grew cold and tears burned in my eyes. "I want you to do what you feel is the right thing, Jake. You know that. I support you. I do. But – but give me a chance to adjust, okay?" My Jacob? Vulnerable like me? The kids – who'd take care of them if something happened to us?

Panic – a panic I couldn't remember feeling ever before – welled up over me and I started to shake, right there in the summer sunshine. I didn't know what to say. I didn't want him to be stuck like his ancestors were – outliving wives and children. No. But...

The world shifted as Jake lifted me up, murmuring nonsense sounds as he ran lightly off into the shelter of the trees. "Sweetheart, honey. I didn't know. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have tried to explain it here. Come on, Cassi. You're stronger than this. You are."

I blew out a breath when we stopped and Jake parked his butt on a boulder. "Jake?"

"I love you. I'm so sorry for freaking you out."

"Who'll take care of the kids?"

"Sweetheart... This is the natural path of life, you know? The way it's supposed to be. The sun rises and sets. Our parents live and get old and die. Our children walk and talk and Sarah's telling stories and Ephraim's good with his hands and you know each of them will have a place in the world, right?" I nodded. "That's the way it's supposed to be. And you know, that if something happened, our kids have the best uncles and aunts and cousins anywhere. You know that Bells'd care for them, or Sam and Emily. You know that."

"I know," I whispered, strangely comforted by the obvious idea that Jake had thought about death and our dying early. I hadn't, really, being stupid or naïve and figuring he'd always be there as our family grew to adulthood. "You're right. I know you are. I just wasn't ready to talk about it, I guess. Sorry?"

He turned me in his arms, my weight still meaning nothing because he was still supernaturally strong. His lips met mine without prelude, without apology. Just a reminder of his love for me and our continuing passion for one another. "I love you, Cassi. I promised I'd be here with you for my whole life. I meant it then, you know. Back in Alaska."

In spite of my still-frothing worry, I had to smile. "I know. I love you, Jacob Black."

"Then let's get back to the kids, huh?"

"Okay."

Every day we had together, every day with our children, had just become more precious because Jake was right. It _was_ the natural order of things. And I was – and he would be – only human.

"Mom! Daddy! Come on! They're gonna have a bonfire but we gotta go early!"

Jake met my eyes over the gathered heads of our children as they ran and toddled stumbled to us at the edge of the clearing. "We really do. Sarah, you want to tell the legends, tonight?" Jake asked our big girl.

"Can I? Really?"

I nodded. "About time someone else got to do it."

It was about time indeed.

**THE END**

**

* * *

**

**A/N:** And this is, indeed, the end of the_ Imprinting: The Mating Imperative_ series. Thank you so much to everyone who has been with me since I first posted the hardest part a year ago. Thank you to everyone who has rec'd this series or nominated any of the stories herein for awards. Thank you to everyone who has found this series only recently, plowing through it with determination that would make a wolfgirl proud. :-) I love to read your reviews!

A huge bundle of gratitude especially to **The Edge Girls**, who rock and roll and listen to me ramble, read portions of chapters and laugh at my jokes. **Katmom, valelf, u2shay, Elise, Bells, jtrs98, kejce, MegsD **and** shapeshifter** (whom we call Shapes) - ladies, you are beautiful.

I have no plans at this time to revisit any of these couples in the future. I know folks want more Charlie and Leah or Embry and Bella. To you I say this: This was written to examine a phenomenon called The Mating Imperative in imprinting. That's what I wanted to do and I did. :) Also...there will probably be more auctions for charity in the future. If you're interested, keep an eye open for them. I'll probably be selling myself and you can get me to write anything you want. ;-)

Thanks again for reading!

~LJ


End file.
